Color: A Natural History of the Palette

I've always been fascinated about the origins of colour, and in Color - A Natural History of the Palette, author Victoria Finlay travels the world in her search for the origin and birthplace of colors and dyes.

I wasn't interested in the author's personal travelogue, so I initially had the intention of skipping over any boring parts and jumping straight to the facts about the colours which are conveniently broken down into the following chapter headings:

1. Ochre
2. Black and Brown
3. White
4. Red
5. Orange
6. Yellow
7. Green
8. Blue
9. Indigo
10. Violet
What I found surprising was that there were no boring bits! Finlay has managed to keep herself out of the book for the most part, and the stories that were included were historically relevant to show more the colour being discussed and I didn't end up skipping a single paragraph.

Finlay's passion for color and dyes are clear early on, but far from boring the reader her enthusiasm is infectious and I found myself becoming quite excited when she found her first indigo plant or saw a purple field of saffron crocus (used for the color yellow) for the first time.

Some of my favourite facts include:
- Red was made from the blood of the Cochineal insect, which lives on a cactus leaf
- The colour yellow was made from saffron, harvested from the saffron crocus flower, however only 3 strands of saffron are collected from each flower.
- In 1775, arsenic was used to create a color called Scheele's Green. It took until 1880 for people to realise that the wallpapers and paints using this green (and other paints containing arsenic) were killing people and making others very sick. e.g. a cat had become covered with pustules after being locked in a green room.
- Purple is the colour that has been most legislated about over the longest time in history.
- Purple has been a regal colour for centuries and one form of purple was made from shellfish and worn by emperors of Ancient Rome. Finlay writes that those who wore it "probably left a cloud of garlicky, fishy smells in their wake," and that perhaps it was the "scent of power" at the time. What a thought!

I learned so much about the history of colour, dyes, art, art forgery, culture, events in history and trade across many countries and different time periods in the world's history. Everything from a secret green used on ancient Chinese porcelain to the colour blue used to dye English police uniforms in the 1960s was covered, all of which I found fascinating and easy to digest in Finlay's conversational writing style.

I thoroughly recommend Color - A Natural History of the Palette to readers who enjoy art, culture, history, non fiction and have a natural curiosity about the colours around us; great for trivia nights too! show less

To research the history of color is brilliant like a box of sixty-four. Who, for example, has thought about from where ochre originated? According to Finlay, ochre is the first color(s) of paint. I did not know that and to be totally honest, nor have I ever thought about ochre in this way. [My only thoughts in ochre were to be confused about what shade of yellow, red, or brown it is supposed to be.] Did you ever wonder what the HB on a pencil meant? Hardness and blackness. How about the origin of the phrase, "cut through all this red tape"? Who knew? Apparently, Finlay. That's who. She took the time to travel the globe looking for answers about color: Australia for ochre, England for black and brown, China for white, Chile for red, show more Italy for orange, India for yellow,...I wanted to make a map of all her travels. On the heels of reading Travels in a Thin Country I couldn't stop comparing Sara Wheeler's adventure to that of Victoria Finlay.
There is a fair amount of humor in Color. To see what I mean, find the section where Finlay describes the interesting practice of boiling cow urine after the bovine have been fed a steady diet of mango leaves for two weeks straight. show less

I absolutely loved this.

Might not be for everyone but for a watercolorist who adores color - and fascinating history brought to life - it felt like you were right there, trotting around the globe, real-world verifying the backstories, vetting the myths and chasing elusive clues of the resplendent colors of your imagination (and palette).

I learned so much and was so inspired. It added a whole new natural grounding dimension to art for me.

Colour is one of my all-time-favourites and a book that I often think about and refer to. And, whenever I think of it, I just want to read it again. Finlay became fascinated by colours when she saw the light streaming through the stained glass windows of the cathedral of Chartres, and all I have to say is Thank you! She starts with black, white and ochre and continues through the colours of the rainbow- and takes us on a fantastic journey investigating the true reasons behind Napolon´s demise, saffron fields of Spain, the importance of cow pee for painters of sunshine and much much more. If you are anything like me, you will gladly follow her across the globe and enjoy the people she meets and the stories she shares. I am desperately show more longing for Victoria Finlay to write a new book- or for my copy of Colours, which is lent out to a good friend. show less

A marvelous mix of history, culture, chemistry, and the practical, social, and artistic issues of the use of colour. I had no particular interest in the topic based on the title, but, after some strong recommendations, picked up this work and was captivated. It's quite a lengthy tome, but is easy to read a chapter at a time whenever the mood is right. Each chapter focuses on one colour (or black, brown or white), and delves into where pigments and dyes come from, how they are made, the chemical and biological hazards associated with various sources and methods, the related cultural history, the impact of a colour on historical events, etc., ,etc., etc. This book is really loaded with historical, cultural, and scientific insights that show more will capture the mind regardless of your interest in the subject of colour itself. Highly recommended.

Os. show less

Dyes and pigments have been fairly interesting and important to me for a while--growing up, I lived pretty close to a Williamsburg-like living history museum, where I learned a fair bit about using natural dyes like black walnut and goldenrod that could be found or grown at the museum. Having appreciated them then and having read a book several years ago about the history of (in particular) the red cochineal dye, I was really excited when I learned about this book a while ago.

I definitely learned quite a bit about the history of dyes and similar materials from this book. It's arranged thematically by color, which chapters for all the colors of the rainbow as well as brown, black, and white. I think my favorite chapters were probably show more green, indigo (which has also always been one of my favorite materials to dye with), and purple. The purple chapter, right at the end of the book, was especially interesting to me because I'd known that snails were used for Roman dyes for a long time, and I really enjoyed learning about the process here.

Perhaps a major caution or just fyi that I'd like to add to this book, though, which keeps me from wanting to rate it higher is that not all of the book is quite what I'd expected--I'd gone into the book expecting information on the history of colors, which there definitely was, but the book was really more properly half history, half travelogue. Very substantial portions of each chapter are about the author traveling to India or Lebanon or Mexico or China or other places to physically visit places important in the history of different colors' dyestuffs. While I did enjoy parts of this, it really wasn't what I was expecting from the book, and I think I'd have been perfectly happy with a bit more focus on the colors and dyes themselves. show less

A very readable story of one woman's quest to learn the stories of the old dyes and pigments. In the process she uncovered the rise and fall of whole industries, cities built on a particular color, lives focused on a color. She also reveals the meanings and significance these various colors have had within cultures then and now. In many cases finding the stories involved a difficult wild goose chase. Surprising to discover that colors had an impact on trade and power approaching that of spices until the advent of synthetic colors.