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A review by erboe501
The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair
4.0
This is a punchy, eye-pleasing gift book. Most of the information about individual colors I've already forgotten, especially the entries that were technical about production. Without any anecdotal flavor, nothing stuck in my head.
But I'm left with some general outlines and understandings about the color world. How use of color has been restricted in various ways throughout history; precious colors for nobility only, Chinese emperors hiding shades from public view, medieval bans on mixing colors. Many colors chemically engineered in labs were discovered by accident. What we mean when we call a certain shade a color has changed over time, as does the popularity of colors (mauve was super popular with Queen Victoria, but has since carried pretty old-lady connotations). I much preferred the entries that related the historical arc of a color's use, or how they fell in and out of favor with artists, how they stood up over time against the elements. I'm also left with an impression about how unsafe so many mixed colors were throughout history, poisonous to the humans who used them.
But I'm left with some general outlines and understandings about the color world. How use of color has been restricted in various ways throughout history; precious colors for nobility only, Chinese emperors hiding shades from public view, medieval bans on mixing colors. Many colors chemically engineered in labs were discovered by accident. What we mean when we call a certain shade a color has changed over time, as does the popularity of colors (mauve was super popular with Queen Victoria, but has since carried pretty old-lady connotations). I much preferred the entries that related the historical arc of a color's use, or how they fell in and out of favor with artists, how they stood up over time against the elements. I'm also left with an impression about how unsafe so many mixed colors were throughout history, poisonous to the humans who used them.