Yellow : the history of a color / Michel Pastoureau ; translated by Jody Gladding.
Material type:
TextLanguage: English Original language: French Publisher: Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2019]Description: 240 pages : color illustrations ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- still image
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780691198255
- 069119825X
- Jaune. English
- 155.91145 PAS 23
- BF789.C7 P37513 2019
| Item type | Current library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Loan | LSAD Library Main Collection | 155.91145 PAS (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 39002100711598 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
From the acclaimed author of Blue , a beautifully illustrated history of yellow from antiquity to the present
In this richly illustrated book, Michel Pastoureau--a renowned authority on the history of color and the author of celebrated volumes on blue, black, green, and red--now traces the visual, social, and cultural history of yellow. Focusing on European societies, with comparisons from East Asia, India, Africa, and South America, Yellow tells the intriguing story of the color's evolving place in art, religion, fashion, literature, and science.
In Europe today, yellow is a discreet color, little present in everyday life and rarely carrying great symbolism. This has not always been the case. In antiquity, yellow was almost sacred, a symbol of light, warmth, and prosperity. It became highly ambivalent in medieval Europe: greenish yellow came to signify demonic sulfur and bile, the color of forgers, lawless knights, Judas, and Lucifer--while warm yellow recalled honey and gold, serving as a sign of pleasure and abundance. In Asia, yellow has generally had a positive meaning. In ancient China, yellow clothing was reserved for the emperor, while in India the color is associated with happiness. Above all, yellow is the color of Buddhism, whose temple doors are marked with it.
Throughout, Pastoureau illuminates the history of yellow with a wealth of captivating images. With its striking design and compelling text, Yellow is a feast for the eye and mind.
"First published in the French language by Editions du Seuil, Paris, under the title Jaune: Histoire d'une Couleur by Michel Pastoureau, copyright 2019, Editions du Seuil, Paris"--Verso.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 234-237).
A beneficial color -- An ambiguous color -- An unpopular color.
"Illuminated with a wide variety of images, this book traces the long history of yellow around the world. In antiquity, yellow was considered a sacred color, a symbol of light, warmth, wealth, and prosperity. But in medieval Europe, it became highly ambivalent: greenish yellow came to signify demonic sulfur and bile, the color of forgers, felon knights, traitors, Judas, and Lucifer-while warm yellow recalled honey and gold, serving as a sign of joy, pleasure and abundance. The yellow stars of the Holocaust were seared into the color's negative tradition. In Europe today, yellow has diminished to a discreet color. Greenish yellow can still be seen as dangerous, sickly, or poisonous, and golden yellow remains positive, but the color is absent in much of everyday life and is lacking in symbolism. In Asia, however, yellow pigments like ocher and orpiment and dyes like saffron, curcuma, and gaude are abundant. Painting and dyeing in this color has been easier than in Europe, offering a richer and more varied palette of yellows that has granted the color a more positive meaning. In ancient China, for example, yellow clothing was reserved for the emperor. In India, the color is seen as a source of happiness: wearing a little yellow is believed to keep evil away. And importantly, it is the color of Buddhism, whose temple doors are marked with the color. Yellow continues to have different meanings in different cultural traditions, but in most, the color remains associated with light and sun, something that can be seen from afar and that seems warm and always in motion"-- Provided by publisher.