Colour: Making and Using Dyes and Pigments

by François Delamare, Bernard Guineau

The science of pigments, hues, and dyes has a long and ancient history. From the 40000-years-old caves at Lascaux and the medieval cloth trade that enriched Europe to the synthetic chemistry of modern times, colour making has had a central place in our lives. This book surveys the history of dyes and pigments, the invention of new colours, and the industries that fuelled them. It explores colouring and dyeing methods through history and asks questions relating to this, such what were the colours of Ancient Egypt?; what did artists use to paint their magnificent frescoes?; where do indigo and ochre come from?; why is purple the colour of royalty?; what are pastels?; how many colours are their?; why do we dye our food?; who invented ink?; what are white and black made of?; and what is the symbolism of yellow? This comprehensive text offers information and insights into many colours ranging from cerise to heliotrope, and gamboge to periwinkle.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, History, France

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 1999

Reviews

[Stephan Model · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a lot to be learned from this comprehensive, yet compact overview. The authors maintain a good focus on the main topic, which is the history of how colors and their Ingredients have been made throughout history.

It was a very fascinating journey to learn about how the arts, crafts and later the industry around dying helped to form societies and political powers for example in ancient Egypt, Europe in the Middle Ages and the global economies from the Industrialization up to this day. While it might be obvious that a book about the history of colours might be concerned with the history of the Arts and artistic techniques, this text actually is much more concerned with aspects like developments in the production and distribution of dyestuff and in the scientific disciplines concerned with colours.

For someone coming from a background of profound interest in art history and aesthetics, there were some suprising connections to be made, nonetheless. In conclusion, I can highly recommend this finely crafted, well-written and delightful book regardless if your area of interest might be aspects of history of economics and industry or theory in the sciences or humanities.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delamare and Bernard Guineau (not sure why Guineau is omitted above) have created a gorgeous book, however small, that does visual justice to the subject. They survey the development of colorants from ancient times until now and track the mutual influences of technological innovations, industries, trade, and art. It is truly an overview, so there are only tantalizing hints at stories developed into entire books by other authors (such as Garfield's Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour That Changed the World and Greenfield's A Perfect Red). Sometimes it is difficult to follow the narrative - one never knows if the salient information will be found in the main text or in the copious and lengthy image captions - but that is a small price to pay for the wealth of illustrations. I found the Documents section at the end quite useful, as well. All in all a solid and beautifully illustrated introduction to colorants through the ages.

[Rossdavidh · Rating 3 out of 5]

There once was a time when our world was mostly earthtones of brown, yellow, and green. Red, purple, blue, or other more brilliant colors came in small points, in ripened berries or the like. It turns out to be surprisingly difficult to find dyes which retain their color for long; even green is not as easy as you might think, if you want it to stay green for years.

Each discovery of a new pigment or dye led to a frenzied rush to acquire it, often at great cost. Telling the story of how this happened over the centuries, is one way to tell the story of how human civilization grew and developed and cross-connected, in all its gaudy and sometimes ethically dubious glory. This book does a lot in a small volume.

It is also, you will not be surprised to hear, quite pretty to look at, and not only because reading it helps you to appreciate just how much went into those colors on the page in front of you.

[Trunatrschild · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tiny book that packs a punch... lots of information on history of pigments and dyes, the making of them and the naming and the usage. If you like medieval history and paintings you'll enjoy this book.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the vibrant formatting reminiscent of a magazine or textbook which made it difficult for me to focus on and read. It was an interesting topic but there were subjects and words that were only touched on lightly that should have been explained more in depth.