Overview
The earliest forms of human creativity - in carvings, markings, and cave paintings - bear witness to humanity's engagement with color. Almost as old as these examples is the desire to assign structure, order, and meaning to this universal yet elusive concept, and it is this fascination that unites the works compiled in this expansive edition. Gathering over 40 rare books and manuscripts from a wealth of institutions, including the most distinguished color collections worldwide, The Book of Colour Concepts takes the reader on a chromatic odyssey across four centuries and over 350 images of luscious wheels and globes, painstakingly collated charts, and meticulous diagrams, many of them newly photographed exclusively for this edition. Seminal works of color theory, such as Isaac Newton's Opticks and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's hugely significant Zur Farbenlehre, are shown alongside rare and unfamiliar contributions, including the theosophical color systems of Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant, the comprehensive color 'dictionary' of Aloys John Maerz and Morris Rea Paul, and the patchwork combinations of the Japanese costume designer and artist Sanzo Wada. This volume also brings many intriguing and often overlooked works by women into the spotlight, including the radically inventive color ""blots"" of the English flower painter Mary Gartside. The color systems that make up this edition are contextualized by an introductory essay from Alexandra Loske, while authoritative texts on the works reproduced set out each concept in further detail. Illuminating the history of color in all its shapes and forms, The Book of Colour Concepts offers a chromatic chronology unparalleled in scope.
Full Product Details
Author: Alexandra Loske
Publisher: Taschen GmbH
Imprint: Taschen GmbH
Edition: Multilingual edition
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 3.40cm
, Length: 21.70cm
Weight: 1.142kg
ISBN: 9783754401248
ISBN 10: 3754401246
Pages: 512
Publication Date: 10 July 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Language: English, German, French
Reviews
“A beautiful and deeply comprehensive study of color theory.” * Dwell *
A beautiful and deeply comprehensive study of color theory. * Dwell *
Author Information
Alexandra Loske is a British-German art historian, writer, and museum curator, with a particular interest in the role of women in the history of colour. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Sussex, and is currently Curator of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Loske has lectured and been published widely on colour and other topics, and has curated a number of exhibitions, including ""Regency Colour and Beyond, 1785–1845"" at the Royal Pavilion in 2014.
