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    Color: A Natural History of the Palette
    Unavailable
    Color: A Natural History of the Palette
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    Color: A Natural History of the Palette
    Ebook579 pages8 hours

    Color: A Natural History of the Palette

    By Victoria Finlay

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateDec 18, 2007
    ISBN9780307430830
    Unavailable
    Color: A Natural History of the Palette
    Author

    Victoria Finlay

    Victoria Finlay is the critically acclaimed author of Colour - Travels Through the Paintbox and the former arts editor of the South China Morning Post. She studied social anthropology and has travelled around the world in search of stories about her subjects, from colour to jewels and fabric. As well as writing, she has worked in international development.

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    Reviews for Color

    4/5

    339 ratings20 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Lots of detail and worthwhile but I liked Secret Lives of Color a little better.
    • 4/5
      To research the history of color is brilliant like a box of sixty-four. Who, for example, has thought about from where ochre originated? According to Finlay, ochre is the first color(s) of paint. I did not know that and to be totally honest, nor have I ever thought about ochre in this way. [My only thoughts in ochre were to be confused about what shade of yellow, red, or brown it is supposed to be.] Did you ever wonder what the HB on a pencil meant? Hardness and blackness. How about the origin of the phrase, "cut through all this red tape"? Who knew? Apparently, Finlay. That's who. She took the time to travel the globe looking for answers about color: Australia for ochre, England for black and brown, China for white, Chile for red, Italy for orange, India for yellow,...I wanted to make a map of all her travels. On the heels of reading Travels in a Thin Country I couldn't stop comparing Sara Wheeler's adventure to that of Victoria Finlay.There is a fair amount of humor in Color. To see what I mean, find the section where Finlay describes the interesting practice of boiling cow urine after the bovine have been fed a steady diet of mango leaves for two weeks straight.
    • 5/5
      This personal journey through the history of color is amazing!!!
    • 3/5
      Dyes and pigments have been fairly interesting and important to me for a while--growing up, I lived pretty close to a Williamsburg-like living history museum, where I learned a fair bit about using natural dyes like black walnut and goldenrod that could be found or grown at the museum. Having appreciated them then and having read a book several years ago about the history of (in particular) the red cochineal dye, I was really excited when I learned about this book a while ago.I definitely learned quite a bit about the history of dyes and similar materials from this book. It's arranged thematically by color, which chapters for all the colors of the rainbow as well as brown, black, and white. I think my favorite chapters were probably green, indigo (which has also always been one of my favorite materials to dye with), and purple. The purple chapter, right at the end of the book, was especially interesting to me because I'd known that snails were used for Roman dyes for a long time, and I really enjoyed learning about the process here.Perhaps a major caution or just fyi that I'd like to add to this book, though, which keeps me from wanting to rate it higher is that not all of the book is quite what I'd expected--I'd gone into the book expecting information on the history of colors, which there definitely was, but the book was really more properly half history, half travelogue. Very substantial portions of each chapter are about the author traveling to India or Lebanon or Mexico or China or other places to physically visit places important in the history of different colors' dyestuffs. While I did enjoy parts of this, it really wasn't what I was expecting from the book, and I think I'd have been perfectly happy with a bit more focus on the colors and dyes themselves.
    • 2/5
      I 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.
    • 4/5
      Chatty, warm, and full of interesting facts insouciantly intrepid travelogue.... delightful.
    • 3/5
      In 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 lesson. There is much information about the world within this book's covers and it made me appreciate the entire palette of colors in one book. It's all here: science, art, great artists, politics, history, health, and equally as powerful–business, business, business.
    • 4/5
      I've always been fascinated about the origins of colour, and in Color - A Natural History of the Palette, author Victoria Finlay travels the world in her search for the origin and birthplace of colors and dyes.I wasn't interested in the author's personal travelogue, so I initially had the intention of skipping over any boring parts and jumping straight to the facts about the colours which are conveniently broken down into the following chapter headings:1. Ochre2. Black and Brown3. White4. Red5. Orange6. Yellow7. Green8. Blue9. Indigo10. VioletWhat I found surprising was that there were no boring bits! Finlay has managed to keep herself out of the book for the most part, and the stories that were included were historically relevant to the colour being discussed and I didn't end up skipping a single paragraph.Finlay's passion for color and dyes are clear early on, but far from boring the reader her enthusiasm is infectious and I found myself becoming quite excited when she found her first indigo plant or saw a purple field of saffron crocus (used for the color yellow) for the first time.Some of my favourite facts include:- Red was made from the blood of the Cochineal insect, which lives on a cactus leaf- The colour yellow was made from saffron, harvested from the saffron crocus flower, however only 3 strands of saffron are collected from each flower.- In 1775, arsenic was used to create a color called Scheele's Green. It took until 1880 for people to realise that the wallpapers and paints using this green (and other paints containing arsenic) were killing people and making others very sick. e.g. a cat had become covered with pustules after being locked in a green room.- Purple is the colour that has been most legislated about over the longest time in history.- Purple has been a regal colour for centuries and one form of purple was made from shellfish and worn by emperors of Ancient Rome. Finlay writes that those who wore it "probably left a cloud of garlicky, fishy smells in their wake," and that perhaps it was the "scent of power" at the time. What a thought!I learned so much about the history of colour, dyes, art, art forgery, culture, events in history and trade across many countries and different time periods in the world's history. Everything from a secret green used on ancient Chinese porcelain to the colour blue used to dye English police uniforms in the 1960s was covered, all of which I found fascinating and easy to digest in Finlay's conversational writing style.I thoroughly recommend Color - A Natural History of the Palette to readers who enjoy art, culture, history, non fiction and have a natural curiosity about the colours around us; great for trivia nights too!
    • 3/5
      I wish I'd held on to this book, because I regularly find myself trying to remember how a particular colour or dye is made. All I remember is the story about yellow being extracted from Indian mango-eating cows - and that was shown to be a canard. So, with hindsight: an interesting, informative book on the story of colours in dyes and paints.
    • 5/5
      Colour is one of my all-time-favourites and a book that I often think about and refer to. And, whenever I think of it, I just want to read it again. Finlay became fascinated by colours when she saw the light streaming through the stained glass windows of the cathedral of Chartres, and all I have to say is Thank you! She starts with black, white and ochre and continues through the colours of the rainbow- and takes us on a fantastic journey investigating the true reasons behind Napolon´s demise, saffron fields of Spain, the importance of cow pee for painters of sunshine and much much more. If you are anything like me, you will gladly follow her across the globe and enjoy the people she meets and the stories she shares. I am desperately longing for Victoria Finlay to write a new book- or for my copy of Colours, which is lent out to a good friend.
    • 5/5
      Victoria Findlay is a journalist who takes us on a very entertaining journey through the rainbow of colours used by painters and dyers through the centuries (and millenia). She manages the right mix of history, social history and culture, chemistry, observation and personal anecdote. It reminded me a bit of Bill Bryson's writing, only her humour is gentler and she manages to sustain her tone for the whole book.
    • 4/5
      A marvelous mix of history, culture, chemistry, and the practical, social, and artistic issues of the use of colour. I had no particular interest in the topic based on the title, but, after some strong recommendations, picked up this work and was captivated. It's quite a lengthy tome, but is easy to read a chapter at a time whenever the mood is right. Each chapter focuses on one colour (or black, brown or white), and delves into where pigments and dyes come from, how they are made, the chemical and biological hazards associated with various sources and methods, the related cultural history, the impact of a colour on historical events, etc., ,etc., etc. This book is really loaded with historical, cultural, and scientific insights that will capture the mind regardless of your interest in the subject of colour itself. Highly recommended.Os.
    • 3/5
      Where do we get all the wonderful colors for dyes and paints? Yet another book I received too late and raced through, trying to catch up. I hereby resolve to not race through another book; reading too fast spoils the fun.
    • 4/5
      The author travelled the world in search of the origins of pigments and dyes. The result is this idiosyncratic book which is part art history, part a dissertation on the appeal that different colours have and have had for human beings. First published in 2002 by Hodder, the Folio edition is hardly a bedside book, the text and illustrations being entirely printed on heavy art paper, but it is full of unexpected and quirky historical anecdotes and travel reminiscences from all over the world.
    • 4/5
      A very readable story of one woman's quest to learn the stories of the old dyes and pigments. In the process she uncovered the rise and fall of whole industries, cities built on a particular color, lives focused on a color. She also reveals the meanings and significance these various colors have had within cultures then and now. In many cases finding the stories involved a difficult wild goose chase. Surprising to discover that colors had an impact on trade and power approaching that of spices until the advent of synthetic colors.
    • 4/5
      Victoria Finlay already gained one big fan when I first read her Jewels: A Secret History. This book preceded Jewels although the style is the same - part travelogue, part history. The author gets to travel the world over to search out the source and stories behind colour pigments, meeting fascinating people along the way. I was naturally fascinated to read about the gemstones like malachite and lapis lazuli which were once used as pigments. But the references to jewels are minimal but this should not detract from what is a most enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      One of the fastest, best non-fiction reads. I wish there had been more chapters, looking at more colors and facets of art and social history.
    • 3/5
      The material is fascinating enough to make the rather plodding writing worth following. The author clearly has passion for the subject, but somehow this gets lost in the rather dry prose. It could have been so much better.
    • 4/5
      I've been meaning to read this book for ages, since I first found it in a bookstore, and I wasn't disappointed. There were times when I wanted more continuity, and more references so I could pursue some of the stories on my own, but in general a wonderful read with fascinating facts and imaginings that connect to the history of empire, of art, of psychology, of food and of cultural survival. Stories about Aboriginal art in Australia and the purple skirts worn by women in the Andes will particularly stay with me.
    • 3/5
      very interesting stuff, but painfully boring naration