opfclouds.blogg.se

There is a great article written by the author, here: This is an absolutely stunning 2009 Folio Society edition of Victoria Finlay's first book, Colour (Color in the US) subtitled 'Travels through the Paintbox'. There, at only eight years old, Finlay's father explained that the stained glass had been created eight hundred years ago and that today we still don't know how to make that particular blue. Originally published in 2002, the book is a result of Finlay's fascination with colour - its impact on people's lives and our human attempt to recreate nature's seemingly effortless palette - since a childhood visit to Chartres cathedral. It is enchanting, interesting and beautiful all at once - what else do you need from a book?

It looks at how green was carried by yaks along the silk road, and how an entire nation was founded on the colour purple. The book 'Colour' unlocks the history of the colours of the rainbow, and reveals how paints came to be invented, discovered, traded and used, and how nature inspired those colours and tormented those who tried to recreate them! It is a beautifully written book, part travelogue part narrative history, remembering a time when red paint was really the colour of blood when orange was the poison pigment when blue was as expensive as gold, and yellow was made from the urine of cows force-fed with mangoes. People usually take colour for granted, but to be fair, in our house that isn't an accurate statement as there are those with colour-blindness. This is a fabulous and interesting book, forcing the reader to consider their perception of colour and the impact of colour on civilisations - dyes, spices, flowers etc.