Research Guides: Color Theory: Color History, Symbolism & Psychology

Color History & Symbolism

Color : a natural history of the palette
Call Number: ND1488 .F56 2002
IIluminates how the colors we choose to value have determined the history of culture itself.
Color and Meaning: art, science, and symbolism
Call Number: ND1488 .G344 1999
Study informed by the conviction that color is a contingent, historical occurrence whose meaning, like language, lies in the particular contexts in which it is experienced and interpreted.
The Secret Lives of Color
Call Number: BF789.C7 S64 2017
Tells the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes and hues.
Pantone: the 20th century in color
Call Number: NK1548 .E39 2011
Identifies more than 200 touchstone works of art, products, decor, and fashion, and carefully match them with 80 different official PANTONE color palettes to reveal the trends, radical shifts, and resurgences of various hues.

Color Perception & Psychology

The Secret Language of Color
Call Number: QC495.3 .E25 2013
Learn about how and why we see color, the nature of rainbows, animals with color vision far superior and far inferior to our own, how our language influences the colors we see, and much more.
Colour hunting : how colour influences what we buy, make and feel
Call Number: NK1548 .C68 2011
The book is divided into three chapters: commerce (sell, buy), aesthetics (make), and well-being (feel). Illustrated pages are followed by in-depth case studies and interviews regarding the use of color for these three purposes.
Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color
Call Number: ND1495.P8 E37 2000
Explains the emotional response to color and covers the latest guidelines for effective color combinations, including the integration of color trends.
Colori: emotions of color in art
Call Number: N7432.7 .C668 2017
Inspired by the work of anthropologist Michael Taussig, among others, Colori investigates the use of color through the presentation of over 400 works by more than 130 artists from around the world, from the late 19th century to today.

Books on Specific Colors

Red: the history of a color
Call Number: BF789.C7 P39813 2016
The fascinating and sometimes controversial history of the color red.
Green : the history of a color
Call Number: BF789.C7 P39513 2014
Examines the evolving place of green in art, clothes, literature, religion, science, and everyday life.
Blue - The History of a Color
Call Number: BF789.C7 P369 2001
A Visual and cultural history of the color blue throughout the ages
Black: the history of a color
Call Number: BF789.C7 P3813 2009
The social history of the color black in Europe.
Mauve: how one man invented a color that changed the world
Call Number: TP140.P46 G37 2001
In 1856 eighteen-year-old English chemist William Perkin accidentally discovered a way to mass-produce color. An experimental mishap produced an odd shade of purple revolutionized fashion, as well as industrial applications of chemistry research.
Pink: the exposed color in contemporary art and culture
Call Number: N7432.7 .P56 2006
Book on the nature of the colour pink makes its debut, featuring works by fifty international artists and young talents from the art academies in Weimar and Tokyo.
Pink : the history of a punk, pretty, powerful color Creator Valerie Steele
Call Number: TT507 .S755 2018
The story of this controversial color, emphasizing how its meanings changed throughout the centuries and across the globe, in cultures as diverse as France, India, Japan, Mexico, and the United States.
Brilliant: white in design
Call Number: NK1548 .O39 2011
Examines the spectrum of colors and talents inherent in white, exploring how it is used, and viewed, in art, design, architecture, and nature.

Werners Nomenclature of Color

Werners Nomenclature of Color
First published in 1814, Werner's Nomenclature of Colours is a taxonomic guide to the colors of the natural world used by artists and scientists for more than two centuries. See a scanned archival copy of the book courtesy of the Linda Hall Library.