Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color

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The making of a painting relies on inspiration, craft, practice, and vision. But, observes the noted science writer Philip Ball, it also hinges on science: "For as long as painters have fashioned their visions and dreams into images, they have relied on technical knowledge and skill to supply their materials."

In this lively study, Ball examines some of the tools and materials that chemists have added to the palette over the centuries. He also takes his readers on a learned tour of what science has taught us about vision, the nature of light, and the physical and cultural factors that condition our perceptions of color (the ancient Romans, he notes, had no term for brown or gray, but that does not mean they didn't use earth pigments in their work). Whether writing of matters scientific or artistic, Ball is a technologist but not a determinist. In the end, he writes, art depends not on science but on artists, and "each artist makes his or her own contract with the colors of the time."

Readers with an interest in science, art, and the crossroads where they meet will relish Ball's erudite travels across the spectrum of light. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

From Egyptian wall paintings to the Venetian Renaissance, impressionism to digital images, Philip Ball tells the fascinating story of how art, chemistry, and technology have interacted throughout the ages to render the gorgeous hues we admire on our walls and in our museums.

Finalist for the 2002 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Customer Reviews:

A bright subject.......2007-03-29

Bright Earth gives a detailed history of the development of colour as used in art (painting primarily). It is well written and easy to read but perhaps tends a little towards being a pedantic. Nevertheless it is very helpful in understanding colour and its use in art through the ages.

bright earth review.......2007-01-16

excellent service book is very deep and scientific, but i waded through it.

A literary, absorbing work.......2002-10-07

In Bright Earth, science writer Philip Ball presents a fine guide that examines the practical side of art throughout history. From its gains from technological advancements to cultural influences on art directions, Bright Earth surveys how color is invented, reinvented, and presented. A literary, absorbing work.

Historical review about color pigments.......2002-08-23

If you have a deep interest in color and how pigments and materials have been developed or discovered this is a book to read. There are only a few illustrations and lots of text, it is not a light book to read cover to cover. It is not a handbook and not a book of facts, its more like a history book.

I value the effort put in the book, but it wasn't exactly what I expected and I won't read it twice.

interesting science, poor art history.......2002-05-09

If you are a painter, or other artist interested in science you should get this book. This is the only book I have seen that focuses on the history of pigment, especially in relation to painting. And the book starts with a useful overview of the physics and physiology of color, though there are many other books that go into more detail on that subject.

Why isn't this book worth 5 stars? The art historical sections that situate the artists are shallow, trite, and full of clichés. I get the sense that the author researched the artists for this book, and regurgitated some of these notes. Great art history requires the meditation of a lifetime.

I recommend "The Renaissance Artist at Work", by Cole, to dispel the notion that art historians do not care about materials. I recommend "The Nude", by Kenneth Clark, as a book that manages to say something profound in nearly every paragraph. I also recommend buying "The Bright Earth", it is the best book I have found on this topic.

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Bright Earth Art and the Invention of Color
Philip Ball
Manufacturer: Farrar Straus Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O587HE

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Bright Earth (Art and the Invention of Color)
Philip Ball
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OP7RPC

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Bright Earth Art and the Invention of Color
Ball Philip
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UIPQ5Q

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Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color
Philip Ball
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OXCRVS

Book Description

Katsushika Hokusai (1769-1849) was one of the greatest of the Japanese printmakers, painters and book illustrators. This richly illustrated monograph provides an overview of the master's life and works. Comprising introductory essays, seven chapters embracing Hokusai's entire career and some 700 illustrations, it presents and analyses a large selection of Hokusai's finest works in all media, covering his whole career and giving a scholarly and up-to-date interpretation of the artist and his significance.Gian Carlo Calza is Professor of East Asian Art History at the University of Ca' Foscari, Venice, and Director of the International Hokusai Research Centre in Milan. A distinguished authority on Hokusai and Japanese art, he has published many books, exhibition catalogues and articles on Hokusai, and is currently preparing a catalogue raisonn+ of Hokusai's paintings.In addition to Calza's eight introductory essays and his catalogue of the artist's works, the book includes discussions of various aspects of Hokusai's art by inter-nationally respected authorities in the field, namely Roger S. Keyes, Visiting Professor in the History of Art at Brown University; Matthi Forrer, Curator at the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden; John M. Rosen-field, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Art at Harvard University; Richard Lane, independent scholar; Asano Shugo, Curator of the Municipal Museum of Art, Chiba; Tsuji Nobuo, Rector of Tama University of Fine Arts, Tokyo; and Kobayashi Tadashi, Director of the Muni-cipal Museum of Art, Chiba, and Professor of East Asian Art History at the University Gakushuin of Tokyo.

Customer Reviews:

Young man crazy about this book.......2006-09-28

Looking at this collection really shows the diversity in Hokusai's long career. In one of the essays, the writter comments that Hokusai changes his style so much that his work looks like the work of a different artist. The breath of this volume helps the viewer see how creative and inventive this master is. What I like about Hokusai is that his personal life is just as interesting as his work. The essays included do a good job placing the differnent periods in context with the times and Hokusai's own massive body of work.

excellent.......2004-06-17

Excellent printing and selection, a great book for art reference or read.

The definitive collection.......2003-12-05

There are two or three different collections of Hokusai's works in print this Fall (2003), and of them this is the best. The others are good, solid selections of his material, but this combines an encyclopedic sweep of nearly all of his available prints (including ones rarely seen, such as his erotic prints) with a superb color printing. I'd recommend this above all of the others, if you're looking for a complete catalog of his works.

Drama and Desire: Japanese Painting from the Floating World, 1690-1850

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A top pick

Drama and Desire: Japanese Painting from the Floating World, 1690-1850
Howard Hibbett , Masato Naito , Kobayashi Tadashi , Asano Shugo , Hokusai , and Utamaro
Manufacturer: MFA Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0878467106
Release Date: 2007-07-01

Book Description

A rare gem: Drama and Desire presents 69 masterpieces of Japanese ukiyo-e painting by such renowned masters as Hokusai, Utamaro and Harunobu, among others--all depicting aspects of the so-called "floating world," the licentious demimonde of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), where actors and courtesans, rich patrons and bohemians, cavorted. While woodblock prints of the floating world have long been a favorite of art lovers, the remarkable ink-and-dye paintings of the period are far less known and much less available. This volume collects key examples by some of Japan's most important artists, each conveying a singular and very moving freedom of expression. Here, we find wistful interiors of courtesans at rest, onstage panoramas of actors in their finery, explicitly erotic scenes of lovemaking and outrageous fantasies. Essays by renowned American and Japanese scholars, including Howard Hibbett and Masato Naito, set the context with discussions of Edo society and culture, the ways in which "high" and "low" arts mixed in ukiyo-e painting, and the prominent roles played by courtesans, geishas and male prostitutes in the subculture of the period. This is a milieu of passion and mystery, color and flamboyance, boldly rendered in these uncommonly exotic masterworks. Published to accompany the first major American exhibition of ukiyo-e paintings in recent years, hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Customer Reviews:

A top pick .......2007-07-10

DRAMA AND DESIRE: JAPANESE PAINTINGS FROM THE FLOATING WORLD 1690-1850 blends a history of Japanese paintings and painters with a catalog of full-page color reproductions of paintings representing the best and most classic works of the period from 1690-1850. Thanks to a grant, nearly thirty scholars traveled to Boston to study over four thousand paintings, sculptures, textiles, masks and lacquer pieces, taking photos of each object and producing bilingual catalogs published to make the Museum of Fine Art's holdings available to the world art community. DRAMA AND DESIRE furthers this objective, and is a top pick for both art libraries and college-level holdings specializing in Japanese history and culture.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Hokusai: Paintings, Drawings, and Woodcuts

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Hokusai: Paintings, Drawings, and Woodcuts
Jack Hillier
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0714818348

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Not what I was hoping for

Hokusai
Rizzoli
Manufacturer: Rizzoli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0847809897
Release Date: 1988-12-15

Customer Reviews:

Not what I was hoping for.......2005-06-28

What it is: The most thorough biographical reference I know, by an 1890s French author, de Goncourt. It's been translated into English, with a few notes added by the modern author (Forrer). The text has many accompanying illustrations. Those include sketches and remarkable paintings on silk or paper. Quite a few will be unfamiliar to most viewers - they include unique objects (like the drawings) and many rare prints. In fact, some of the prints were only discovered recently, or so people thought until they were seen mentioned in de Goncourt's text.

What I hoped for: A collection of Hokusai's art that really shows the art. This is basically a history or biography. Only a handful of the reproductions are in color, but printed well in those few cases. The overwhelming majority of illustrations are black-and-white, often too small to see any detail. Many large ones have such uncertain focus that detail gets lost, too. The real purpose of the pictures, though was to support the text. The illustrations do that adequately, like visual signposts along the path of Hokusai's career.

If you're looking for a coffee-table set of Hokusai reproductions, give this one or two stars. The book is a biography, though, the best I know, and interesting in itself.

Still, it's not what I was hoping for.

//wiredweird

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Hokusai One Hundred Poets
Peter Morse
Manufacturer: George Braziller
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0807612138

Book Description

This lavishly illustrated, oversized (17" x 10") book brings together the last major print series of the celebrated Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849) and the Japanese poetry that inspired these beautiful prints.

Whether showing semi-nude women abalone divers struggling with their catch while a male crew of shriveled old salts leers from a nearby boat, or the carefree rapture of a leisurely group of men and women observing cherry blossoms at their peak, Hokusai captures, with drama and delicacy, sublime and ridiculous states. The artist's simplicity, though deceptive, is also remarkable: he illustrates a poem about a lovers' seaside tryst with a magnificently imposing yet unadorned sailing vessel, its small window offering a coy glimpse of the fortunate couple inside.

Book Description

This complete collection of Hokusai's famous views of Mount Fuji is the only high-quality reproduction of these engravings, long considered the Japanese master's greatest works. Taken from the best engravings available and shown in splendid color, this authoritative volume is the first of its kind since 1830. Hokusai's influence extended far beyond Japan, even to French Impressionists including Degas, Monet, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Each illustration is accopmanied by detailed notes placing the work in its cultural and historical context and exploring the symbolic themes running through Hokusai's landscapes.

Hokusai: Mountains and Water, Flowers and Birds (Pegasus Series)

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Genius Does What it Must

Hokusai: Mountains and Water, Flowers and Birds (Pegasus Series)
Matthi Forrer
Manufacturer: Prestel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Still Life | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 3791330438

Book Description

This delightful selection of prints depicting nineteenth century Japan's natural beauty is a colorful introduction to the country's most beloved artist.

The Japanese artist Hokusai spent the second half of his life sketching and painting with tremendous energy nearly everything he saw, and this book focuses on one of his most productive periods, when the artist was in his seventies. This volume of full-color reproductions features fifty works of the artist's astonishing oeuvre. The book includes selections from his renowned series of woodblock prints, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, including "In the Hollow of a Wave," "Shower below the Summit," and "South Wind at Clear Dawn." Also presented here are images of flowers, waterfalls, bridges, birds, and fish, demonstrating the uniquely precise yet passionate quality of Hokusai's art. An expert on the artist's work, Matthi Forrer provides illuminating commentary on Hokusai's life and technique, offering revealing insight into his enduring popularity in Japan and throughout the world.

Customer Reviews:

Genius Does What it Must.......2007-03-20

The textural conversation concerning the Japanese print can only be resolved by looking at the prints. Hokkusai....Hiroshige...or whomever: these prints were made by men who had to make a living doing what they did. They were absolutely no different than any contemporary artist who has agents and who depends solely upon sales of their work for their survival.
It is no accident that Van Gogh wasted a lot of valuable time introducing Japanese prints to Parisians. And it is not about who is unparalleled: Hokkusai, on a one-to-one showdown of sheer visual power is one of the great masters of visual communication.
If you know what you are looking at this is a treasure trove, and if you don't know what you are looking at this is a good place to start if you have an interest in the hisorical place of genius.

Hokusai, the man mad-on-drawing (A Spring art book)

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Hokusai, the man mad-on-drawing (A Spring art book)
Hokusai Katsushika
Manufacturer: Spring Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Hokusai: 36 Views of Mt. Fuji
Narazaki
Manufacturer: Kodansha America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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HANDS THAT DREW SACRED MOUNT FUJI SKETCHED LION-DOGS FOR LUCK !
Gorgeous!

Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain

Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Japanese | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0374332630

Book Description

A tribute to an artist unafraid to break with tradition.

In her own glowing paintings and lucid text, Deborah Kogan Ray tells the fascinating life story of the Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849). He rose from poverty, taught himself to draw, became the promising pupil of a great master, and then defied tradition to become one of the most important and influential artists in the world.

Ray's paintings are rich with period and biographical detail. The endpapers show drawings from Hokusai's sketchbooks. Also included is one of his famous Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.

Customer Reviews:

HANDS THAT DREW SACRED MOUNT FUJI SKETCHED LION-DOGS FOR LUCK !.......2006-03-31

Authors are often advised to "write what you know" but when a Japanese artist in the 19th century defied convention to paint the familiar - - the humblest of peasants, 'fragrant' laborers in fish markets - - wealthy patrons would not buy his art. However, Hokusai persisted and his influence has been phenomenal. He used more than thirty other names in his lifetime. The name "Hokusai" was adopted officially when he was 36 years old. It meant *North Star Studio." Hokusai was a Buddhist and believed that the constellations had the power to guide him. His art was his 'North Star' I believe, or his sun or moon? Sometimes we read about persons that we *ache* to have known; Hokusai was such a person for me.

Amazingly he changed his place of residence more than ninety times. Every morning he sketched a *lion-dog* for good luck. It may have had something to do with his longevity; he did not die until he was in his ninetieth year! He painted often the actors in the Noh theatre, and the more plebeian Kabuki plays. Those flamboyant actors leant themselves to portraiture that easily found buyers. His woodcut "The Great Wave off Kanegawa" (reproduced in Ray's book) has probably been "altered" or used for cartoons, t-shirts, etc., as often as Grant Wood's "American Gothic."

Can any of us imagine composing over 30,000 works of art in a lifetime? Hokusai claimed he drew nothing of great note before the age of 70. He called himself *Gakyo Rojin* which translates "old man mad about painting." As mentioned, his 'output' was prodigious. His mother died when he was six years old. She had promised to take him on a pilgrimage to Mt. Fuji, and his fascination for the mountain never waned. Cherry trees bloomed like billowing clouds on the pilgrims' path in his paintings. I would have thought him too busy and/or preoccupied to have a wife but he did, and they had three children.

Ray's own illustrations are strong in outline & rich colors and happily complement the text and Hokusai's own sketches from his *MANGA* shown in the book's endpapers - - All are an excellent introduction to Hokusai's art. It is a children's biography well-designed for all ages to learn from and savor. Reviewer mcHAIKU highly recommends Deborah Kogan Ray's book for generational sharing. Even though our language is not represented by 'pictographs' some children might be inspired to make their own penmanship more legible - - even artistic!

Gorgeous!.......2003-04-04

This story of a famous Japanese artist (1760-1849) is beautifully written and illustrated. It is a story of rising beyond the limitations of class, of educating oneself through persistence and hard work, and of not being confined by the narrow views of others to reach one's potential. Katsushik Hokusai influenced the work of Western Impressionists artists. This is a book not to be missed if you are studying this prolific artist.

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