Color Charts
A History
Published on 6. February 2024
Book
Hardback
284 pages
978-0-691-25517-0 (ISBN)
Description
A beautifully illustrated history of the many inventive, poetic, and alluring ways in which color swatches have been selected and staged
The need to categorize and communicate color has mobilized practitioners and scholars for centuries. Color Charts describes the many different methods and ingenious devices developed since the fifteenth century by doctors, naturalists, dyers, and painters to catalog fragments of colors. With the advent of industrial society, manufacturers and merchants developed some of the most beautiful and varied tools ever designed to present all the available colors. Thanks to them, society has discovered the abundance of color embodied in a plethora of materials: cuts of fabric, leather, paper, and rubber; slats of wood and linoleum; delicate skeins of silk; careful deposits of paint and pastels; fragments of lipstick; and arrangements of flower petals. These samples shape a visual culture and a chromatic vocabulary and instill a deep desire for color.
Anne Varichon traces the emergence of modern color charts from a set of processes developed over the centuries in various contexts. She presents illuminating examples that bring this remarkable story to life, from ancient writings revealing attention to precise shade to contemporary designers' color charts, dyers' notebooks, and Werner's famous color nomenclature. Varichon argues that color charts have linked generations of artists, artisans, scientists, industrialists, and merchants, and have played an essential and enduring role in the way societies think about color.
Drawing on nearly two hundred documents from public and private collections, almost all of them previously unpublished, this wonderfully illustrated book shows how the color chart, in its many distinct forms and expressions, is a practical tool that has transcended its original purpose to become an educational aid and subject of contemplation worthy of being studied and admired.
The need to categorize and communicate color has mobilized practitioners and scholars for centuries. Color Charts describes the many different methods and ingenious devices developed since the fifteenth century by doctors, naturalists, dyers, and painters to catalog fragments of colors. With the advent of industrial society, manufacturers and merchants developed some of the most beautiful and varied tools ever designed to present all the available colors. Thanks to them, society has discovered the abundance of color embodied in a plethora of materials: cuts of fabric, leather, paper, and rubber; slats of wood and linoleum; delicate skeins of silk; careful deposits of paint and pastels; fragments of lipstick; and arrangements of flower petals. These samples shape a visual culture and a chromatic vocabulary and instill a deep desire for color.
Anne Varichon traces the emergence of modern color charts from a set of processes developed over the centuries in various contexts. She presents illuminating examples that bring this remarkable story to life, from ancient writings revealing attention to precise shade to contemporary designers' color charts, dyers' notebooks, and Werner's famous color nomenclature. Varichon argues that color charts have linked generations of artists, artisans, scientists, industrialists, and merchants, and have played an essential and enduring role in the way societies think about color.
Drawing on nearly two hundred documents from public and private collections, almost all of them previously unpublished, this wonderfully illustrated book shows how the color chart, in its many distinct forms and expressions, is a practical tool that has transcended its original purpose to become an educational aid and subject of contemplation worthy of being studied and admired.
Reviews / Votes
"One of the most richly illustrated, beautifully designed and intelligently researched books of 2024."---Steven Heller, Print Magazine "In Color Charts: A History, French author Anne Varichon reveals the inventive and poetic ways in which colour has been collectively understood, telling the story of the transformation from pigment makers and craftworkers, dependent on their charts, to the age of synthetic colour, through which the 'western world began to become colourful, and finally, colourful for everyone'."---Alexander James, Financial Times "This radiantly beautiful book takes us on a journey through the methods and devices used in Western cultures to catalogue colours developed since the 15th century by doctors, naturalists, dyers and painters."---Jad Adams, The Art Newspaper "There is a riot of colour on almost every page, in a stunning array that illuminates the eye."---Elizabeth Fitzherbert, The Lady "The tools we use to select shades of wall paint trace their origins to the ingenuity of 15th-century merchants and, ultimately, ancient texts describing hues with the utmost precision. Varichon has compiled a host of unpublished documents to recount this vivid history." * Apollo * "An incredible journey through the different devices that have been developed since the 15th century to help us organize and catalog color. . . . A necessity for any color lover."---Jessica Stewart, My Modern Met "A playful, spellbinding read."---Sarah Rose Sharpe, Hyperallergic "Enthusiasts will . . . delight in naming systems from the 14th century, when shades were dubbed "lion fur" yellow and "donkey-back" gray." * Country Living * "Using splendid, rare examples mostly never before published. . . . [Anne Varichon's] writing is graceful and witty, the illustrations rich and in full color, and the concept delightful and strikingly original."---Peter Walsh, Arts Fuse "An informative and eye-catching read for anyone interested in learning more about the history of the Western world through its relationship to the colors surrounding us."---Miyako Pleines, Spectrum Culture "Those in need of a jolt of the pure, sensory joy that material culture inquiry can bring will find it in Color Charts's abundant, spectral offering of these peculiarly satisfying objects."---Kate Burnett Budzyn, Decorative Arts Trust Bulletin
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
355 color illus.
Dimensions
Height: 289 mm
Width: 253 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
1944 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-25517-0 (9780691255170)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2024
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€53.99
Available for download