“St. Clair delivers a mix of science, humor, and art history in this collection of bite-sized essays on the cultural and social lore of colors.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The history of colors, it turns out, is the story of science as well as art. Kassia St. Clair’s entertaining book brings them both into vivid relief.”
—The Wall Street Journal
The Secret Lives of Color tells the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes, and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso’s blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green, and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history.
In this book, Kassia St. Clair has turned her lifelong obsession with colors and where they come from (whether Van Gogh’s chrome yellow sunflowers or punk’s fluorescent pink) into a unique study of human civilization. Across fashion and politics, art and war, the secret lives of color tell the vivid story of our culture.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kassia St. Clair is a freelance journalist and author based in London. She has written about design and culture for numerous publications, and has had a dedicated column about color in Elle Decoration since 2013.