Colors of Art takes the reader on a journey through history via 80 carefully curated artworks and their palettes. For these pieces, color is not only a tool (like a paintbrush or a canvas) but the fundamental secret to their success.
Color allows artists to express their individuality, evoke certain moods, and portray positive or negative subliminal messages. And throughout history the greatest of artists have experimented with new pigments and new technologies to lead movements and deliver masterpieces. But, as something so cardinal, we sometimes forget how poignant color palettes can be , and how much they can tell us.
When Vermeer painted The Milkmaid , the amount of ultramarine he could use was written in the contract. How did that affect how he used it? When Turner experimented with Indian Yellow , he captured roaring flames that brought his paintings to life. If he had used a more ordinary yellow, would he have created something so extraordinary? And how did Warhol throw away the rulebook to change what color could achieve?
Structured chronologically, Colors of Art provides a fun, intelligent, and visually engaging look at the greatest artistic palettes in art history – from Rafael’s use of perspective and Vermeer’s ultramarine, to Andy Warhol’s hot pinks, and Lisa Brice’s blue women.
Colors of Art offers a refreshing take on the subject and acts as a primer for artists, designers, and art lovers who want to look at art history from a different perspective.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction
Color me in
First impressions Prehistoric and ancient art
Ordering the world The Renaissance
Cutting loose Baroque and Rococo
Keeping it real 17th-century Dutch painting
Two sides of a coin Neoclassicism and Romanticism
Let there be light Impressionism
On the edge of the spectrum From Pre-Raphaelites to Postimpressionists
Express yourself Expressionism
Seeing it feelingly Abstract Expressionism and color-field painting
Show some restraint Monochrome and Minimalism
By popular demand Pop Art and the Pictures generation
Here and now 1970s to the present
Further reading
Picture credits
Index
Acknowledgments
About the author
Über den Autor
Chloë Ashby is a writer and editor. Since graduating from the Courtauld Institute of Art, she has written about art and culture for the TLS, Guardian, FT Life & Arts, Spectator, Apollo, frieze and others. She is the author of The Colours of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Colour Palettes, which will be published by Frances Lincoln in spring 2022. Her short fiction has appeared in The London Magazine and The Fairlight Book of Short Stories. Her first novel, Wet Paint, will be published by Trapeze, also in spring 2022.www.chloeashby.com