Colour and Meaning; Art, Science and Symbolism - copertina rigida, flessible

Good Condition. The book is in good condition overall, but there are some marks around the sides. The dust jacket has minor creasing and scratches. Is colour just physiological phenomenon - a sensation resulting from different wavelengths of light on receptors in the eye? Does colour have an effect on feelings? And how is pure sensation processed by brain related to language? This pioneering, vividly written book is ultimately informed by the conviction that colour is a contingent, historical phenomenon whose meaning, like language, lies in the particular historical contexts in which it is experienced and interpreted. John Gage expands his lucid and lively discussion of the topics and issues hinted at in his previous prize-winning book Colour and Culture. For Colour and Meaning he has chosen some familiar territory, yet his approach to each subject it original and new. He explores the mysteries of themes as diverse as the optical mixing techniques implicit in mosaic; medieval colour-symbolism; the equipment of the manuscript illuminator's workshop; the colour-languages of Latin America at the time of the Spanish Conquest; the earliest history of the prism; the colour ideas of Goethe and Runge, Blake and Turner, Seurat and Matisse; and the use of colour in early abstract painting. From the perspective of the history of science, Gage comments on the bearing of Newton's optical discoveries on painting, the chemist Chevreul's contact with painters and the growing interest of psychologists in the topic of colour in the late nineteenth century. One invaluable chapter documents the literature on the historical interpretation of colour in art. For students and lecturers in the history of art and culture, for artists and designers, and psychologists and scientists with a special interest in the subject - indeed for all intrigued by this many-sided phenomenon, John Gage has produced a compelling study of the meaning of colour through the ages.