A unique approach to the history of art told through the story of colour and pigments.
Did you know that the ultramarine that shimmers at the centre of Vermeer’s Milkmaid connects that masterpiece with 6th-century Zoroastrian paintings found on the walls of cave temples in Bamiyan, Afghanistan? Or that the surging waves that crest and curl in Hokusai’s perilous Great Wave off Kanagawa owe their absorbing blue lustre to an alchemist who was born in Frankenstein’s Castle in 1673? And were the Pre-Raphaelites really obsessed with a murky brown hue derived from the pulverized remains of ancient mummies? (Spoiler: they were.)
Invented by prehistoric cave-dwellers and medieval conjurers, cunning conmen and savvy scientists, the colours of art tell a riveting tale all their own. Over ten scintillating chapters, acclaimed author Kelly Grovier helps bring that tale vividly to life, revealing the astonishing backstories of the pigments that define the greatest works in the history of art. Interwoven between these chapters is a series of features focusing on key moments in the evolution of colour theory – from the revelations of the Enlightenment to the radicalism of the Bauhaus – while reproductions of carefully selected artworks help illuminate the narrative’s twists and turns.
The history of colour is an epic saga of human ingenuity and insatiable desire. Read this book and you will never look at a work of art in quite the same way.
About the Author:
Kelly Grovier is a feature writer for BBC Culture and the author of several acclaimed studies of art, including 100 Works of Art That Will Define Our Age, Art Since 1989, and A New Way of Seeing: The History of Art in 57 Works, published by Thames & Hudson. His most recent book, On the Line: Conversations with Sean Scully, is based on revealing chats with his close friend, the internationally-acclaimed abstract artist. His writings have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, The Independent, the Sunday Times, the Observer, the RA Magazine and Wired magazine. His history of London’s Newgate Prison, The Gaol, was a BBC Radio 4 ‘Book of the Week’. He is co-founder of the scholarly journal European Romantic Review.
He is the author of three collections of poetry, including THE LANTERN CAGE, and has been described by reviewers as “a poet of both truth and beauty” (The TLS) and “a kind of William Blake for the twenty-first century” (Planet magazine).
Kelly was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was educated at UCLA and Oxford University, where he earned his doctorate as a Marshall Scholar. He lives in Ireland with his wife and son.
