Individual Colors
Color theory is an established system for understanding how colors behave when mixed, covering concepts like primary, secondary, and complementary colors, as well as color harmonies. The books below explore the histories and cultural meanings attached to individual colors, considering how pigments were sourced and the symbolic value they hold in various societies.
Subject Headings
Explore our collection in the Research Catalog with the following subject headings:
Individual colors have their own subject headings, for instance:
Books on Individual Colors
Black by
Black the favorite color of priests and penitents, artists and ascetics, fashion designers and fascists, has always stood for powerfully opposed ideas: authority and humility, sin and holiness, rebellion and conformity, wealth and poverty, good and bad. In this illustrated book, the author tells the social history of the color black in Europe.
Call Number: JQZ 12-1237ISBN: 9780691139302Publication Date: 2008-11-16
Blue by
An illustrated, visual and cultural history of the color blue throughout the ages. It investigates how the ever-changing role of blue in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, heraldry, clothing, paintings, and popular culture.
Call Number: JQZ 12-1236ISBN: 0691090505Publication Date: 2001-10-07
Blue Mythologies by
The blues of Blue Mythologies include those present in the world's religions, eggs, science, slavery, gender, sex, art, the literary past, and contemporary film. Carol Mavor's engaging and elegiac readings in this beautifully illustrated book take the reader from the blue of a newborn baby's eyes to Giotto's frescoes at Padua, and from the films of Derek Jarman and Krzysztof Kiéslowski to the islands of Venice and Aran.
Call Number: JFE 13-7402ISBN: 9781780230832Publication Date: 2013-08-15
Blue Pigments by
The book shows how much ingenuity man has deployed in order to obtain synthetic blue materials.
Call Number: QC495.8 .D4513 2013ISBN: 9781904982371Publication Date: 2013-05-16
Green by
In this illustrated book, the author presents a fascinating and revealing history of the color green in European societies from prehistoric times to today. Examining the evolving place of green in art, clothes, literature, religion, science, and everyday life.
Call Number: JQE 17-77ISBN: 9780691159362Publication Date: 2014-08-24
The Key of Green by
A unique cultural history, The Key of Green considers the significance of the color in the literature, visual arts, and popular culture of early modern England.
Call Number: JFE 09-484ISBN: 9780226763781Publication Date: 2008-12-15
Mauve: how one man invented a colour that changed the world by
A study of the color mauve, created in 1856 by eighteen-year-old English chemist William Perkin, who was working on a treatment for malaria in his home laboratory and accidentally discovered what became the most desired shade in fashion and ultimately led to the development of explosives, perfume, photography, and modern medicine.
Call Number: JFD 01-2205ISBN: 0571201970Publication Date: 2000
A Perfect Red by
A Perfect Red recounts the colorful history of cochineal, a legendary red dye that was once one of the world's most precious commodities. Pirates, explorers, alchemists, scientists, and spies -- all joined the chase for cochineal, a chase that lasted more than three centuries. A Perfect Red tells their stories -- true-life tales of mystery, empire, and adventure, in pursuit of the most desirable color on earth.
Call Number: JSD 07-99ISBN: 9780060522759Publication Date: 2005-04-26
Pink: the History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Colour by
Today, with the advent of "millennial pink," the color formerly associated with Barbie has acquired a new identity. It explores the history and significance of pink in fashion, art, and culture from the eighteenth century to the present. It features essays by scholars across the disciplines, giving readers access to a wealth of research into subjects as diverse as Hollywood movies and the symbolism of the pink triangle.
Call Number: JQF 19-72ISBN: 9780500022269Publication Date: 2018-09-04
The Rarest Blue by
The Rarest Blue tells the incredible story of tekhelet, the elusive sky-blue color mentioned throughout the Bible. In this richly illustrated book, Baruch Sterman brilliantly recounts the amazing story of this sacred dye that changed the color of history.
Call Number: JFC 17-455ISBN: 9780762782222Publication Date: 2012-11-20
Red by
An illustrated book that navigates centuries of symbolism and complex meanings to present the fascinating and sometimes controversial history of the color red. Pastoureau illuminates red's evolution through a diverse selection of captivating images, including the cave paintings of Lascaux, the works of Renaissance masters, and the modern paintings and stained glass of Mark Rothko and Josef Albers.
Call Number: JQE 17-64ISBN: 9780691172774Publication Date: 2017-02-14
Red: the art and science of a colour by
In this book, Spike Bucklow brings us into the heart of this fiery hue to better understand the unique powers it has had over us. The result is a material and cultural history that makes one see this color afresh, beating with vibrancy, a crucial part of the human visual world.
Call Number: QC495 .B83 2016gISBN: 9781780235912Publication Date: 2016-07-15
The Story of Black by
As a color, black comes in no other shades: it is a single hue with no variation, one half of a dichotomy. But what it symbolizes envelops the entire spectrum of meaning--good and bad. The Story of Black travels back to the biblical and classical eras to explore the ambiguous relationship the world's cultures have had with this sometimes accursed color, examining how black has been used as a tool and a metaphor in a plethora of startling ways.
Call Number: JFE 13-7835ISBN: 9781780230849Publication Date: 2013-09-15
Yellow by
An illustrated book that traces the visual, social, and cultural history of yellow. It illuminates the history of yellow with images, design and text.
Call Number: JQE 23-405ISBN: 9780691198255Publication Date: 2019-11-26
