Chromatopia : an illustrated history of colour / David Coles ; with photography by Adrian Lander.

Did you know that the Egyptians created the first synthetic colour; or that the noblest purple comes from a predatory sea snail? Throughout history, artist pigments have been made from deadly metals, poisonous minerals, urine, cow dung, and even crushed insects. From grinding down beetles and burnin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Coles, David (Paint-maker) (Author)
Other Authors: Lander, Adrian (Photographer)
Language:English
Published: New York, New York : Thames & Hudson Inc., 2018.
Subjects:
Color in art.
Color.
Color > History.
Colors.
Colors > History.
History.
Genre:
History.
Physical Description:xv, 223 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 23 cm
Format: Book
Contents:
  • A life lived in colour
  • Glossary
  • The basics of colour : Blue ; Purple ; Red ; Orange ; Yellow ; Green
  • I. The first colours : Ochres ; Chalk white ; Lamp black ; Bone white ; Bone black
  • II. Colour in the time of the ancients : Egyptian blue ; Orpiment ; Realgar ; Woad
  • III. Colour + the classical world : Lead white ; Tyrian purple ; Indigo ; Malachite ; Azurite ; Red lead ; Verdigris ; Chrysocolla
  • IV. Medieval colours : Lac ; Vine black ; Kermes ; Dragon's blood ; Lapis lazuli ; Peach black ; Lead tin yellow ; Vermilion ; Smalt ; Saffron ; Blue Verditer ; Graphite ; Naples Yellow
  • V. Writing inks : Gall ink : Bistre ; Sepia ; Walnut
  • VI. Dyes, lakes + pinkes : Arzica ; Brazilwood ; Logwood ; Stil De Grain ; Madder lake ; Cochineal ; The farmers of cochineal
  • VII. Mysterious colours : Indian yellow ; Gamboge ; Mummy Brown
  • VIII. The explosion of colours : Prussian blue ; Lead chromates ; Emerald green ; Cobalt ; Potter's pink ; Ultramarine ; Cadmium ; Cerulean blue ; Manganese
  • IX. A brave new world of colour : Mars colours ; Zinc white ; Titanium white ; Synthetic chemistry of the modern world
  • X. The science of modern colour : Fluorescence ; Photoluminescence ; YInMn blue ; Vantablack ; Making colour visceral: how paint is made
  • Manufacturing pigments : Lead white ; Carmine lake ; Ultramarine ; Madder lake
  • Artists' colour.