Ex Libris
Somehow, despite my deep affection, two of my favorite books walked away from my bookshelf and out of my life. So I finally broke down and ordered them, again, on Amazon. Now it’s exactly like Peaches and Herb were so fond of singing, we’re “reunited and it feels so good.” (My favorite line from that song is actually “me minus you is such a lonely ride,” but I couldn’t figure out how to work that into a sentence.)
Both books are by the incredibly brilliant, very French, art historian and color theorist, Michel Pastoureau. Book one is Blue: The History of a Color. This is the book that inspired me to start researching and critically writing about color. It has fascinating information like, “It is difficult to determine which Greek or Latin words designate blue because both languages lack basic, recurring terms for it.” It seems the Greeks loved talking about how light or dark something was, but they didn’t really give a fig about the particular hue. (Are you thinking, “hmmm, not that fascinating?” Then we are very different people, my friend! That’s OK. It takes all types.) This is a cofee-tableish sized book with tons of beautiful images like the one above.
