A unique approach to the history of art told through the story of
colour and pigments. Did you know that the ultramarine that
shimmers at the centre of Vermeer’s Milkmaid connects that
masterpiece with 6th-century Zoroastrian paintings found on the
walls of cave temples in Bamiyan, Afghanistan? Or that the surging
waves that crest and curl in Hokusai’s perilous Great Wave off
Kanagawa owe their absorbing blue lustre to an alchemist who was
born in Frankenstein’s Castle in 1673? And were the
Pre-Raphaelites really obsessed with a murky brown hue derived from
the pulverized remains of ancient mummies? (Spoiler: they were.)
Invented by prehistoric cave-dwellers and medieval conjurers,
cunning conmen and savvy scientists, the colours of art tell a
riveting tale all their own. Over ten scintillating chapters,
acclaimed author Kelly Grovier helps bring that tale vividly to
life, revealing the astonishing backstories of the pigments that
define the greatest works in the history of art. Interwoven between
these chapters is a series of features focusing on key moments in
the evolution of colour theory – from the revelations of the
Enlightenment to the radicalism of the Bauhaus – while
reproductions of carefully selected artworks help illuminate the
narrative’s twists and turns. The history of colour is an epic
saga of human ingenuity and insatiable desire. Read this book and
you will never look at a work of art in quite the same way.
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