The earliest forms of human creativity - in incisions, markings and cave paintings - are a testament to humanity's link with colour. Almost as old as these examples is the desire to give structure, order and meaning to this universal but elusive concept, and it is this fascination that drives the works compiled in this comprehensive edition.
The Book of Colour Concepts brings together over 65 rare books and manuscripts from a wealth of institutions, including the world's most important colour collections, and takes the reader on a colour odyssey through four centuries and over 1,000 images of delightful wheels and dials, and meticulously crafted charts and diagrams, many of them photographed exclusively for this edition. Some of these concepts provide comprehensive taxonomies of colour, while others reflect on the relationship between colour and music or the affinities between colour and human emotions.
Fundamental works of colour theory, such as Isaac Newton's Opticks and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's hugely significant Zur Farbenlehre, are featured alongside little-known contributions, including the theosophical colour systems of Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant, the comprehensive colour dictionary of Aloys John Maerz and Morris Rea Paul, and the patchwork combinations of Japanese costume designer and artist Sanzō Wada.
The two volumes also bring together many intriguing, and often overlooked, works by women, including the radically inventive colour patches of English flower painter Mary Gartside and a botanical notebook by spiritualist pioneer Hilma af Klint.
Introductory essays by editor Alexandra Loske and co-author Sarah Lowengard contextualise the colour systems that make up this edition, while the editor's texts on the works reproduced expound each concept in more detail. Shedding light on the history of colour in all its forms, The Book of Colour Concepts offers a chromatic chronology of unparalleled scope.

Publisher: Taschen