Color: A Natural History of the PaletteIn this vivid and captivating journey through the colors of an artist’s palette, Victoria Finlay takes us on an enthralling adventure around the world and through the ages, illuminating how the colors we choose to value have determined the history of culture itself. How did the most precious color blue travel all the way from remote lapis mines in Afghanistan to Michelangelo’s brush? What is the connection between brown paint and ancient Egyptian mummies? Why did Robin Hood wear Lincoln green? In Color, Finlay explores the physical materials that color our world, such as precious minerals and insect blood, as well as the social and political meanings that color has carried through time. Roman emperors used to wear togas dyed with a purple color that was made from an odorous Lebanese shellfish–which probably meant their scent preceded them. In the eighteenth century, black dye was called logwood and grew along the Spanish Main. Some of the first indigo plantations were started in America, amazingly enough, by a seventeen-year-old girl named Eliza. And the popular van Gogh painting White Roses at Washington’s National Gallery had to be renamed after a researcher discovered that the flowers were originally done in a pink paint that had faded nearly a century ago. Color is full of extraordinary people, events, and anecdotes–painted all the more dazzling by Finlay’s engaging style. Embark upon a thrilling adventure with this intrepid journalist as she travels on a donkey along ancient silk trade routes; with the Phoenicians sailing the Mediterranean in search of a special purple shell that garners wealth, sustenance, and prestige; with modern Chilean farmers breeding and bleeding insects for their viscous red blood. The colors that craft our world have never looked so bright. From the Hardcover edition. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - jlapac - LibraryThingI have to admit that I only got part way through the chapter on Ochre before I abandoned it. I love-love-love the idea, but couldn't mesh with the style of writing. Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - jphamilton - LibraryThingIn the past, I've read entire books on single colors, but putting so many colors together in a single volume allows them to really play off each other and build into a even more powerful history ... Read full review
Contents
| 1 | |
| 11 | |
| 21 | |
BLACK AND BROWN | 107 |
EPILOGUE | 393 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 396 |
NOTES | 406 |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS MAPs | 430 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal Afghanistan ancient arrived artists asked Australia blood blue bright British called cave celadon Cennino Cennino Cennini century Chinese clothes cochineal color Cremona curious Dreaming Dunhuang dyers Eric Hebborn European Famen flowers gamboge graphite green imagine Indian Indian Yellow indigo insect journey kilometers knew land lapis later lead white light lived London looked madder mango medieval Menonville meters mixed months murex Museum mysterious National Gallery natural once orange orpiment paint paintbox Papunya Papunya Tula pencil perhaps pigments plant Pliny probably purple rainbow realized recipe red ochre rocks saffron secret seemed seen ſighting ſind ſinger ſire ſirst ſive ſix stone story Stradivari suddenly Taliban Tang dynasty Tekhelet things thought told town travelled turned Tyrian purple ultramarine varnish violin walked wanted Winsor & Newton woad women wondered wrote yellow
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Color: A Natural History of the Palette |
| Author | Victoria Finlay |
| Publisher | Random House Publishing Group, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0307430839, 9780307430830 |
| Length | 464 pages |
| Subjects | › › Art / Color Theory Art / History / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |