Red

The History of a Color

Michel Pastoureau, Jody Gladding

$86.95 $78.20

Hardback

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English

Princeton University Pres
24 April 2017

Art & Architecture; Theory of art

A beautifully illustrated visual and cultural history of the color red throughout the ages The color red has represented many things, from the life force and the divine to love, lust, and anger. Up through the Middle Ages, red held a place of privilege in the Western world. For many cultures, red was not just one color of many but rather the only color worthy enough to be used for social purposes. In some languages, the word for red was the same as the word for color. The first color developed for painting and dying, red became associated in antiquity with war, wealth, and power. In the medieval period, red held both religious significance, as the color of the blood of Christ and the fires of Hell, and secular meaning, as a symbol of love, glory, and beauty. Yet during the Protestant Reformation, red began to decline in status. Viewed as indecent and immoral and linked to luxury and the excesses of the Catholic Church, red fell out of favor. After the French Revolution, red gained new respect as the color of progressive movements and radical left-wing politics. In this beautifully illustrated book, Michel Pastoureau, the acclaimed author of Blue, Black, and Green, now masterfully 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.

By: Michel Pastoureau
Translated by: Jody Gladding
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 229mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 1.276kg
ISBN: 9780691172774
ISBN 10: 0691172773
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 24 April 2017
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Michel Pastoureau is a historian and director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes de la Sorbonne in Paris. A specialist in the history of colors, symbols, and heraldry, he is the author of many books, including Green, Black, and Blue (all Princeton) and The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Reviews for Red: The History of a Color

Pastoureau ... deftly weaves a tapestry that takes in not just the history of Western art, but also etymology, fairy tales and even the origins of modern road signage in heraldry. There can be no doubting his passion. --Stephen Patience, World of Interiors Love, oh love, oh bloody love! So intense, so beautiful, so treacherous--so red... The new book Red: The History of a Color by Michel Pastoureau ... considers red in all its manifold guises. A richly and imaginatively illustrated survey filled with history, lore, religion, science, cosmetics, archaeology, medicine, alchemy, superstition, magic, linguistics, and even recipes for pigments, the book ambitiously traverses the centuries from prehistoric times to the present. --Barbara A. MacAdam, ARTnews Gorgeous... [A] splendid book, beautiful to look at and fascinating to read. --Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Praise for Michel Pastoureau's Blue : Pastoureau's text moves us through one fascinating area of activity after another... The jacket, cover and end-papers of this luscious book are appropriately blue; its double-columned text breathes easily in the space of its pages; it is so well sewn it opens flat at any place; and fascinating, aptly chosen color plates, not confined to the title color, will please even those eyes denied the good luck of being blue. --William H. Gass, Los Angeles Times Book Review Praise for Michel Pastoureau's Green : [C]omprehensive and lavishly illustrated. --Natalie Angier, New York Times Praise for Michel Pastoureau's Green : [S]umptuously illustrated... These are books to look at, but they are also books to read... Individual colors find their being only in relation to each other, and their cultural force depends on the particular instance of their use. They have no separate life or essential meaning. They have been made to mean, and in these volumes that human endeavor has found its historian. --Michael Gorra, New York Review of Books Beautifully and imaginatively illustrated ... Red is less a theory than a very readable compendium of fascinating facts... Red contains more than enough engrossing diversions that act like a traffic light and bring you to a stop. --Michael Prodger, The Times Superb. --Vanity Fair A wonderful book. --Le Figaro Magazine A heady story of colors. --Telerama An exciting cultural journey through the color red. --La vie A rich and exciting story, a transversal approach, accessible to all. --Le Journal des Arts A captivating human, sociological and spiritual history. --Connaissance des Arts