Four Centuries of Color
The human history of color
The earliest forms of human creativity - in carvings, markings, and cave paintings - bear witness to humanity’s engagement with color. Almost as old as these examples is the desire to assign structure, order, and meaning to this universal yet elusive concept, and it is this fascination that unites the works compiled in this expansive edition.
Gathering over 40 rare books and manuscripts from a wealth of institutions, including the most distinguished color collections worldwide, The Book of Colour Concepts takes the reader on a chromatic odyssey across four centuries and over 350 images of luscious wheels and globes, painstakingly collated charts, and meticulous diagrams, many of them newly photographed exclusively for this edition.
Seminal works of color theory, such as Isaac Newton’s Opticks and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s hugely significant Zur Farbenlehre, are shown alongside rare and unfamiliar contributions, including the theosophical color systems of Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant, the comprehensive color dictionary of Aloys John Maerz and Morris Rea Paul, and the patchwork combinations of the Japanese costume designer and artist Sanzo Wada.
This volume also brings many intriguing and often overlooked works by women into the spotlight, including the radically inventive color blots of the English flower painter Mary Gartside.