"The unforgettable, unknown history of colors and the vivid stories behind them in a beautiful multi-colored volume. The Secret Lives of Color tells the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso's blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green, and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright ...
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"The unforgettable, unknown history of colors and the vivid stories behind them in a beautiful multi-colored volume. The Secret Lives of Color tells the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso's blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green, and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history. In this book, Kassia St. Clair has turned her lifelong obsession with colors and where they come from (whether Van Gogh's chrome yellow sunflowers or punk's fluorescent pink) into a unique study of human civilization. Across fashion and politics, art and war, the secret lives of color tell the vivid story of our culture. "A mind-expanding tour of the world without leaving your paintbox. Every color has a story, and here are some of the most alluring, alarming, and thought-provoking."--Simon Garfield, author ofJust My Type"--
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Add this copy of The Secret Lives of Color to cart. $8.26, new condition, Sold by Gulf Coast Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Memphis, TN, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of The Secret Lives of Color to cart. $15.45, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
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Add this copy of The Secret Lives of Color to cart. $15.71, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of The Secret Lives of Color Format: Hardcover to cart. $17.30, new condition, Sold by indoo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Avenel, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
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I became interested in this title after reading Mauve and Moore's hilarious Sacre Bleu. My library had a copy, co I picked it up.
I was astounded. While it is an average "book sized" quatro book, it is designed like a folio sized "coffee table" book. Every page is keyed by color to the one under discussion, with full page color dividers between the major sections. Not content with the bold organization, subtle variations of the full page color blocks keep the life of the design going. Even the index is color keyed!
Oh yes, the text. Each specific color named has what I expected, an interesting view into the chemistry, history, and usage of the tint. I am slowly realizing that historical descriptions of color cannot be relied on to specify the exact shade, as most specific color names described the formulation of the color, not the shade.
I did find myself wishing for a note on the Pantone index or CMYK index of each color described. Oh well, that's for the next edition...