Description

Book Synopsis
This comprehensive, beautiful book delves deep into the complex but fascinating story of our relationship with colour throughout human history.

Colour is fundamental to our experience and understanding of the world. It crosses continents and cultures, disciplines and decades. It is used to convey information and knowledge, to evoke mood, and to inspire emotion.

This book explores the history of our understanding of colour, from the ancient world to the present, from Aristotle to Albers. Interspersed in the historical story are numerous thematic essays that look at how colour has been used across a wide range of disciplines and fields: in food, music, language and many others.  

The illustrations are drawn from the Royal College of Art’s renowned Colour Reference Library which spans six centuries of works and nearly 2,000 titles, from a Gothic manuscript on the composition of the rainbow to hand-painted Enlighten

The History of Colour

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Sat 13 Jun 2026.

    A Hardback by Neil Parkinson

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      Publisher: Quarto Publishing PLC
      Publication Date: 28/09/2023
      ISBN13: 9780711266797, 978-0711266797
      ISBN10: 0711266794

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      This comprehensive, beautiful book delves deep into the complex but fascinating story of our relationship with colour throughout human history.

      Colour is fundamental to our experience and understanding of the world. It crosses continents and cultures, disciplines and decades. It is used to convey information and knowledge, to evoke mood, and to inspire emotion.

      This book explores the history of our understanding of colour, from the ancient world to the present, from Aristotle to Albers. Interspersed in the historical story are numerous thematic essays that look at how colour has been used across a wide range of disciplines and fields: in food, music, language and many others.  

      The illustrations are drawn from the Royal College of Art’s renowned Colour Reference Library which spans six centuries of works and nearly 2,000 titles, from a Gothic manuscript on the composition of the rainbow to hand-painted Enlighten

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