Main entry:

Pastoureau, Michel, 1947-

Title & Author:

Blue : the history of a color / Michel Pastoureau.

Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, ©2001.

Description:

216 pages : color illustrations ; 25 cm

Notes:
Translation of: Bleu.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 206-212) and index.
Introduction: Color Is Not Black and White 7 -- 1 An Uncommon Color: Prehistory to the Twelfth Century 13 -- 2 A New Color: The Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century 49 -- 3 A Moral Color: The Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century 85 -- 4 Favorite Color: The Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century 123 -- 5 Blue Today 179.
Current Copyright Fee: GBP57.20 0.
Translated from the French.
Dust jacket.

Summary:

"Blue has had a long and topsy-turvy history in the Western world. Once considered a hot color, it is now icy cool. The ancient Greeks scorned it as ugly and barbaric, but most Americans and Europeans now pick it as their favorite color. In this history, the renowned medievalist Michel Pastoureau traces the changing meanings of blue from its rare appearances in prehistoric art to its international ubiquity today in blue jeans and Gauloises cigarette packs." "Pastoureau investigates how the ever-changing role of blue in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, heraldry, clothing, paintings, and popular culture. Beginning with the almost total absence of blue from ancient Western art and language, the story moves to medieval Europe. As people began to associate blue with the Virgin Mary, the color became a powerful element in church decoration and symbolism, despite the resistance of chromophobic prelates. Blue gained new favor as a royal color in the twelfth century and became a formidable political and military force through the French Revolution. As blue triumphed in the modern era, new shades were created and blue became the color of romance, the Romantics, and the blues. Finally, Pastoureau follows blue into contemporary times, when military clothing gave way to the everyday uniform of blue jeans and blue became the universal and unifying color of the Earth as seen from space." "With an elegant design and illustrated with nearly one hundred color plates, Blue tells the history of our favorite color and the cultures that have hated it, loved it, and created great art with it."--Jacket.

Resources:
Table of contents
Tabla de contenido
Publisher description
Descripción de la editorial

ISBN:

0691090505 (alk. paper)
9780691090504 (alk. paper)
9780691181363
0691181365

Subject:

Blue.
Color Psychological aspects History.
Color Social aspects History.
Symbolism of colors History.
Blue in art.
Bleu.
Couleur Aspect psychologique Histoire.
Couleur Aspect social Histoire.
Symbolisme des couleurs Histoire.
Bleu dans l'art.
Color Psychological aspects
Color Social aspects
Symbolism of colors
Blau
Geschichte
Ikonographie
Kunst
Ästhetik
Blauw.
Culturele aspecten.
Techniek.

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 221911
Call No.: BF789.C7 P3 2001
Status: Available