The Story of Colors by Stella Paul Publisher: Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House

Introduction · · · · · ·
The former senior director of art education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art takes you to explore the mysteries of color in art history

Explore how and why color has been used in art for thousands of years

🎨 Editor's Recommendation

The former senior director of art education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art takes you to explore the mysteries of color in art history

The interaction between science and art, the dual perspectives of rational cognition and emotional perception, explores how and why colors have been used in artistic creation for thousands of years

This is the story of color, the story of art, and the story of how color shapes art history and changes the way we see the world.

☆A monograph that tells the history and significance of color from an artistic perspective, leading readers to understand the historical and cultural significance of color through specific analysis of works of art

☆A monograph that tells the history of art from the perspective of color (matter, material), providing readers with a novel perspective to view and interpret works of art

☆The combination of color theory and artistic practice presents the mutual influence of scientific discoveries and passionate creations in different periods of history

☆An interesting, informative, and insightful art history book written for the general public by an expert who has been engaged in art education for a long time

🎨Introduction

This book tells the artistic stories of 10 individual colors or color combinations through 240 works of art as examples. It explores the history and significance of each color in art, highlights fascinating artistic discoveries and passionate stories of artistic creation, and provides easy-to-understand explanations of the science and color theory behind specific colors.

🎨 Media Recommendations

🔸Stella Paul has written a particularly useful and accessible book on the complex subject of color, exploring not only its material properties but also its emotional qualities. The many works of art she presents in her well-balanced text are not just test data for color but also sources of sharp analysis and interpretation. —Philippe de Montebello, Director Emeritus, Metropolitan Museum of Art

🔸Bringing together many well-known and influential works—Michelangelo, Picasso, Jean Dubuffet, Georgia O'Keeffe, Marlene Dumas, and many more—the author highlights people's attitudes toward color and its significance throughout history. —TheChromologist.com

🔸Fascinating and unique... a must-have for students and scholars. - Contemporary Retirement Living Magazine

🔸From how artists discover new colors, to explanations of the science behind specific colors and how they are made...inviting readers to find themselves in the vibrant and wonderful insights. - Home & Antiques Magazine

🔸A journey through the history of art to decipher the colors. ——Artists and Illustrators Magazine

🔸How do people make blue from rocks? Why do some colors give us certain feelings? How have artists used this power over the centuries? Study 10 colors and more than 200 works of art... This book is the best source. - The Daily Telegraph

🔸An exciting book. Whether you are an artist, art historian, or just an art lover, you will be drawn to this beautiful book... The Story of Color is well made, and for a book about color, the quality of the pictures is crucial, and I will not disappoint you. Stella Paul writes with insights, some of which are complex, but she has a gift for clarity and the illustrations complement the text. - FrostMagazine.com

🔸Masterpiece…[An] illuminating and extremely useful book. Artists, art lovers, and designers alike will come away from this book with a new appreciation for the place of color in the long and thorny tradition of visual expression. Paul’s work is a fitting successor to the books written by earlier color artists such as John Cage or Josef Albers. —Printed Magazine

🔸The rich illustrations are colorful and eclectic: from the straightforward Munch-like Scream (he "used color and form to reveal inner states") to the obscure Nardo di Gione... Ambitious general writing that covers the entire field but is also authoritative... Excellent and original. - The Spectator magazine

🔸Published by Phaidon, the leading art book publishing brand... This is an invaluable reference book and the definitive work on colour in art. - Les Scott, presenter of the UK's Radio Stoke Channel

🔸From the red earth tones of early cave paintings to the richly colored murals of the Renaissance to the bold palettes used by Color Field painters in abstract paintings, color has been used in art for centuries. - Home & Garden Magazine

🔸From cave art to 20th century French salon art, 240 works of art show the charm of color. This is a fascinating book about things we often take for granted. ——Rum Design (Swedish interior design magazine)

🔸Art historian Stella Paul’s insightful new book. —Los Angeles Times

🔸Amazing research on materials and colors. ——Harvard Magazine

🔸If you want to learn about the history of color, The Story of Color is the book for you. This new publication covers the history of color from the Paleolithic era to the present day, with ten chapters, each with wonderful photos, drawings and detailed information. You will have a deeper understanding of the power of color after reading it: this power can evoke people's emotions, stimulate people's wisdom, and mean so different things to different people. - Scottish Home and Interior Design Magazine

About the Author
[US] Stella Paul

Art historian, curator, color expert, museum educator. She graduated from Harvard University and the University of Southern California. She has participated in the operation of the Southern California Center of the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art, worked as a curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and later worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for more than 20 years. While working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she was the head of museum exhibitions and communication education, designing projects, giving lectures, and participating in teaching and writing. In addition, she also supervised audio tours and was responsible for the production of thousands of audio explanations for multiple theme exhibitions and tours. She has made outstanding contributions to narrowing the distance between audiences and art and museum communication and education.

Stella Paul has written extensively, with modern art and postwar art being the core of most of her writings. Her writing focuses on crossing time and culture, and emphasizes interdisciplinary research. Her representative works include Twentieth-Century Art: A Resource for Educators, Living in Color: Color in Contemporary Interior Design, Red: Architecture in Monochrome, and Black: Architecture in Monochrome. As a long-term co-author of Phaidon Press, she also participated in the writing of The Art Museum and Art in Time.

🎨Translator Profile

Li Chunjiao

He graduated with a master's degree in art history from the Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University, and later studied in France, where he studied Western art history at the Louvre Academy. He currently lives in Beijing and works in the field of culture and art. He has translated books such as "Changeable Colors: A Brief History of Colors".