colorism

Black America used to be, and perhaps still is, a pigmentocracy, which means that the social hierarchy is based largely on colorism. When I was growing up, Louisiana was ruled by pigmentocracy. I know there are other black communities where colorism has dictated who socializes with whom, what organizations and churches one can belong to, and even where one goes to college, but I suspect that Louisiana is the pinnacle of color consciousness.

Turner's colorism with its cosmic world view had nothing to do with realism, in spite of its impasto handling of colour. […] Turner's images are based on the far-sighted and purely objective views of the 18th century which he imbued with new meaning through his colorism based on colour theory and plein-air painting.