Blue : the history of a color
Pastoureau, Michel, 1947-2018
Books
Find it!
Blue has had a long and topsy-turvy history in the Western world. The ancient Greeks scorned it as ugly and barbaric, but most Americans and Europeans now cite it as their favorite color. In this fascinating history, the renowned medievalist Michel Pastoureau traces the changing meanings of blue from its rare appearance in prehistoric art to its international ubiquity today. Any history of color is, above all, a social history. Pastoureau investigates how the ever-changing role of blue in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, heraldry, clothing, paintings, and popular culture. Beginning with the almost total absence of blue from ancient Western art and language, the story moves to medieval Europe. As people began to associate blue with the Virgin Mary, the color became a powerful element in church decoration and symbolism. Blue gained new favor as a royal color in the twelfth century and became a formidable political and military force during the French Revolution. As blue triumphed in the modern era, new shades were created and blue became the color of romance and the blues. Finally, Pastoureau follows blue into contemporary times, when military clothing gave way to the everyday uniform of blue jeans and blue became the universal and unifying color of the Earth as seen from space. Beautifully illustrated, Blue tells the intriguing story of our favorite color and the cultures that have hated it, loved it, and made it essential to some of our greatest works of art. Translated from French.
Main title:
Blue : the history of a color / Michel Pastoureau ; translated from the French by Markus I. Cruse.
Author:
Imprint:
Princeton [New Jersey] : Princeton University Press, 2018
Collation:
216 pages : color illustrations ; 25 cm.
Notes:
Translated from the author's original work in French: Bleu: histoire d'une couleur.Reprint. English language edition originally published: 2001.Includes bibliographical references (pages 206-215)
Contents:
Introduction : color is not black and white -- An uncommon color : prehistory to the twelfth century -- A new color : the eleventh to the fourteenth century -- A moral color : the fifteenth to the seventeenth century -- The favorite color : the eighteenth to the twentieth century -- Blue today.
ISBN:
9780691181363
Dewey class:
700155.91145
Language:
English
Added title:
Subject:
BRN:
340387
More Information:
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton Library | Adult Non Fiction - Art and Craft | 155.91145 PAS | AvailableRecently returned |