Giving an overview of the history of color theory from ancient and classical cultures to contemporary contexts, this book explores important critical principles and provides practical guidance on the use of color in art and design. Going beyond a simple recitation of what has historically been said about color, artist and educator Aaron Fine provides an intellectual history, critiquing prevailing Western ideas on the subject and challenging assumptions. He analyses colonialist and gendered attitudes, materialist and romanticist perspectives, spiritualist approaches to color, color in the age of reproduction, and modernist and post-modernist color strategies. Highlighted throughout are examples of the ways in which attitudes towards color have been impacted by the legacy of colonialism and are tied up with race, gender, and class. Topics covered include color models, wheels and charts, color interaction and theories of perception, with over 150 images throughout. By placing under-examined tenets of color theory such as the color wheel and color primaries within the Western industrial context that generated them, Fine helps you to connect color choices to color meanings and apply theory to practice.
Giving an overview of the history of color theory from ancient and classical cultures to contemporary contexts, this book explores important critical principles and provides practical guidance on the use of color in art and design. Going beyond a simple recitation of what has historically been said about color, artist and educator Aaron Fine provides an intellectual history, critiquing prevailing Western ideas on the subject and challenging assumptions. He analyses colonialist and gendered attitudes, materialist and romanticist perspectives, spiritualist approaches to color, color in the age of reproduction, and modernist and post-modernist color strategies. Highlighted throughout are examples of the ways in which attitudes towards color have been impacted by the legacy of colonialism and are tied up with race, gender, and class. Topics covered include color models, wheels and charts, color interaction and theories of perception, with over 150 images throughout. By placing under-examined tenets of color theory such as the color wheel and color primaries within the Western industrial context that generated them, Fine helps you to connect color choices to color meanings and apply theory to practice.
List of Images
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Natural Resources and Trade: Color Use in Traditional
Cultures
2. Knowing at a Distance: Color Problems in Ancient Greek
Thought
3. Stained Glass and Illuminations: European and Islamic Color
Theory before Galileo
4. Prisms, Mirrors, and Lenses: The Newtonian Revolution
5. Romanticism and Chromophobia: The Creation of Color Theory in
the 19th Century
6. The Science of the Invisible: Color Classification Systems and
Spiritual Color
7. High Modern: Color Use at the Bauhaus and in Abstract
Expressionism
8. Postmodern: Contemporary Directions in Color Use
Glossary
About the Author
A critical and historical introduction to theories of color, explaining the cultural context in which ideas about color have developed, from antiquity to the present day.
Aaron Fine is Professor of Art, and Chair, at Truman State University, USA, where he teaches drawing, painting, and history of design – among other topics. He has 10 solo exhibitions and over 50 group exhibitions on his CV and 20 years experience teaching in art and interdisciplinary studies at the college level. He received an MFA in Painting from Claremont Graduate University, USA. He is the author of the mixed genre creative nonfiction book Dialogues on Color (2017).
Almost everyone sees color – but this might be the only general
statement it is possible to make on the subject. When we begin to
ask how color is seen and what it is seen to mean, what value
colour has and to whom: then any notion of a consensus quickly
falls apart. Aaron Fine’s rich and wide-ranging study discusses
numerous theories of color, some intersecting and overlapping,
others divergent and conflicting. This book is an invaluable
resource for anyone interested in how different cultures have
interpreted the vibrant patterns of reflected light that almost all
of us see.
*David Batchelor, artist and writer, UK*
Color Theory is a superb book. With impeccable scholarship it spans
centuries, regions and disciplines to give the reader a panoptic
account of the many guises of colour in society, art and
philosophy. Fine’s prose is clear and thought-provoking. Readers
new to the theory of colour will have no better guide to the
subject, and those already familiar will discover many new and
intriguing things.
*Mazviita Chirimuuta, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of
Edinburgh, UK*
If you are curious about learning color theory, I suggest that you
experiment with some watercolor. If you are serious about color
theory, I suggest you read Aaron Fine's book. This is the
intelligent and active approach to the subject. Placed on a
spectrum between John Gage's heady and densely academic, historical
color books and the excellent ‘semester-minded’ color texts of the
like of Pentak and Zelanski, Fine's book provides toothsome
material for the advanced student with opportunities for practical
application and testing of theory. While many color texts have
slapped a ‘global color’ chapter at the last of the book, Fine
squares the world and its people into the beginning perspectives in
chapter 1 and works out from there. This is, I hope, the beginning
of a new generation of color writing that embraces a thoughtful,
world perspective
*Scott Betz, Professor of Art, Winston-Salem State University, USA*
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