Color Scheme: An Irreverent History of Art and Pop Culture in Color Palettes

by Edith Young, Zachary Fine (Foreword by)

Overview

Change the way you see color forever in this dazzling collection of color palettes spanning art history and pop culture, and told in writer and artist Edith Young's accessible, inviting style.

From the shades of pink in the blush of Madame de Pompadour's cheeks to Prince's concert costumes, Color Scheme decodes the often overlooked color concepts that can be found in art history and visual culture. Edith Young's forty color palettes and accompanying essays reveal the systems of color that underpin everything we see, allowing original and, at times, even humorous themes to emerge. Color Scheme is the perfect book for anyone interested in learning more about, or rethinking, how we see the world around us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616899929
Publisher:	Chronicle Books
Publication date:	11/02/2021
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	590,735
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Edith Young is an artist, designer, and writer who lives in New York City. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, and Color Scheme is her first book.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Zachary Fine 8

Introduction 11

The reds of the red caps in Renaissance portraits, 1460-1535 14

The Artist's Palette 16

The blush of Madame de Pompadour's cheeks, 1746-63 20

Art History

The Art History Detective 28

The dresses worn by Velázquez's infantas 30

Frans Hals's ruff collars 34

Palettes

The pupils of the eyes in Vermeer's portraits, 1656-72 40

Caravaggio's Boy with a Basket of Fruit, 1593 42

The yellow bills in John James Audubon's 44

The Birds of America, 1827-38

The blue bills in John James Audubon's 46

The Birds of America, 1827-38

The roseate bills in John James Audubon's 48

The Birds of America, 1827-38

The blush of Marie Antoinette's cheeks 50

Thanksgiving in America, 1825-2009 52

Seascapes, arranged along one horizon line 54

The mountaintops of the diorama paintings in the American Museum of Natural History 60

Helen Frankenthaler's orange color fields 62

Charles Burchfield's violets and violas 64

The stripes in Alice Neel's portraits 66

The flesh tones of Lucian Freud's ex-wives 68

Fairfield Porter's skies 70

Contemporary Art

The Typologists 74

Palettes

The artist's palette, from Anguissola to Botero 82

The blues of David Hockney's pools 84

Botero's beverages 86

The paint on Kerry James Marshall's smocks 88

The greens of the garnishes in Wayne Thiebaud's still lifes 90

Etel Adnan's suns 92

John Currin's blondes 94

The letter "E" in Mel Bochner's paintings 96

Pop Culture

The Color Strategy 100

Palettes

Tonya Harding's figure skating costumes per competition 108

Prince's concert outfits 110

Paul Thomas Anderson's oeuvre 112

Craig Sager's suits, in chronological order over the course of his sportscasting career 114

Walt Frazier's suits, in chronological order over the course of his sportscasting career 116

Dennis Rodman's hair dye, in chronological order over the course of his NBA career 118

Title cards from the second season of Saturday Night Live, 1976-77 122

How Pete Davidson dresses from the waist up on Weekend Update 124

Spike Lee's eyeglasses, 1989-2020 126

CMYK Values 128

Acknowledgments 142

Editorial Reviews

"For all the books college students have to read for class, it's nice to have some decor books laying around that look nice and serve as a fun set of pages to flip through....For an artsy student, Color Scheme: An Irreverent History of Art and Pop Culture in Color Palettes is a great addition."– Insider

"Color Scheme acts as both coffee table book (due to its brilliant, clean, and perfectly minimal/maximal design) and historical retelling of color palettes’ iconic moments in pop culture history—from Pete Davidson’s Weekend Update shirts to Tonya Harding’s figure skating costumes. It’s witty, it’s whimsical, and it will be very nice to thumb through when your brain needs an aesthetically pleasing break"
– SELF,

"

"Color surrounds us in everything we see but rarely do we ever stop to think how much it has influenced our visual culture. In Color Scheme, author Edith Young explores the history of 40 color palettes with originality and humor, forcing us to rethink the way we see the world around us. Whether she’s examining shades of pink blush or Prince’s colorful concert costumes, Young challenges us to take a second look at color."
– My Modern Met,

"

"Color Scheme is a brilliant, smart examination of how we think about color, how material medium informs color, and how these ideas have changed over time....[S]hort, pithy, and fundamentally challenges how readers think about and internalize the colors that surround them."
– Glasstire,

"

"If art is your jam, you will want to run and get this book....Color Scheme is perfect for art enthusiasts, history buffs or anyone who is interested in doing a deeper dive into how we see the world around us through color."
– Cincinnati Enquirer,

"

"[In] Edith Young's Color Scheme, the color palette becomes a vehicle to examine art history, popular culture, and the artist's own professional and artistic development....The primary allure...is Young’s artwork and methodology, but the writing, at times both humorous and sophisticated, will get you to stay."
– The Brooklyn Rail

"Color Scheme: An Irreverent History of Art and Pop Culture in Color Palettes is a small wonder of incredible moments, equal parts art history and paradigm-shifting invention....If you love color, this book will speak directly to your soul."
– Design Milk

“Edith Young’s glorious color palettes turn an art historian’s eye toward the colorful world around us—hairdos and costumes, paintings and backdrops. I love seeing what Edith sees, and this gorgeous book is a delight for all of us who like our lessons to be as whimsical and fun as they are studious and brilliant.” – Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here and owner of Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, New York

“This is art history looked at through an idiosyncratic, inquisitive, and highly personal lens. I’ve laughed my way through this book, and one thing is for sure: I’ll never look at any painting (or ice skating costume, for that matter), in the same way again.”
– Luke Edward Hall, artist, designer, and columnist

“Color Scheme—like Edith Young herself—is absolutely delightful. I have always found art history a bit intimidating: What if I have the wrong opinion? What if I’m interpreting this incorrectly? What if I don’t ‘get’ it? Color Scheme waves all that nonsense away and welcomes you into the dinner party. (Speaking of which, I have the sneaking suspicion that having read this book will make me a far more interesting person to sit next to at dinner parties.)”
– Amelia Diamond, coauthor of Body Talk

“My first job out of college was as a lowly assistant to the formidable fashion editor Diana Vreeland at Harper’s Bazaar. I heard the daily pronouncements about color that Edith mentions in her fascinatingly researched book. How thrilling it is to look at and study color, wherever we find it, and to realize that this formerly abstract and overlooked aspect of our lives is actually a source of power and joy, all around us, everywhere. This book is a brilliant surprise, and I recommend it highly.”
– Ali MacGraw, actress, Love Story

"A visually pleasing palette of colors and artworks."
– Library Journal,

"

From the Publisher

08/01/2021

This book about color is split into three sections: "Art History," "Contemporary Art," and "Pop Culture." The sections feature color palettes inspired by the likes of Audubon's birds, David Hockney's pools, and Prince's concert outfits. Each offers a series of named color blocks and an annotated image to start. For example, the page on Prince's concert outfits includes a color identified as "Purple Rain Tour, Joe Louis Arena, 1984." These colors can be cross-referenced to the CMYK listing at the back of the book. Young spends a few pages on color strategy and real-world examples for the book's palettes. Her easiest example to understand is the color palette of Le Creuset cookware; Young writes, "This color-centric strategy prevents the classic design of a well-known product from growing stale and outdated while keeping loyal customers engaged, ever tempted by the colorway that seems even newer, better, fresher, a touch more thrilling than the last." VERDICT A visually pleasing palette of colors and artworks. At times, the book is a bit too deep or ethereal for the everyday reader, not unlike walking through an art museum. But that isn't reason enough to deny this book a spot on any public library's shelves.—Beth Bland, Milwaukee

Library Journal