The Harvard Art Museums' Forbes Pigment Collection
Foreword by Victoria Finlay. Introduction by Narayan Khandekar. Text by Kingston Trinder. Contributions by Pascale Georgiev.
"This gorgeous coffee table book celebrates over 2500 pigments of color that will be visual candy on any countertop in your home." –E News
The Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums encompasses over 2,500 of the world’s rarest pigments. Museum director Edward Forbes started the collection at the turn of the 20th century, in order to preserve the early Italian paintings he had begun to collect. Over the years, the collection grew into a huge apothecary of bottles and beakers, as other art lovers and color experts donated their own pigments. Today the collection continues to grow, and regularly helps experts across the world to research and authenticate paintings.
Visually excavating the museums’ extraordinary collection, An Atlas of Rare & Familiar Colour examines the contained pigments and artefacts—their provenance, composition, symbology and application. It also explores the larger related fields of chromatics, the historical narratives of art and chemistry, and the innovations with which we have sought to better illustrate our aesthetic and expressive compulsions.
The book includes a foreword by renowned British color author Victoria Finlay.
”An encyclopedic photobook of poised still lifes, where each phial, herb and pigment-filled container becomes a character, narrating the fascinating history of color.” –Wallpaper
Featured image is reproduced from 'An Atlas of Rare & Familiar Colour.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
E News
Jake Thompson
This gorgeous coffee table book celebrates over 2500 pigments of color that will be visual candy on any countertop in your home.
Featured spreads are from An Atlas of Rare & Familiar Colour, one of the most charming books on our list this season, or any other season. Documenting the Harvard Art Museums' Forbes Pigment Collection, it begins with an epigraph taken from Yoko Ono: "If people want to make war they should make a color war, and paint each others' cities up in the night in pink and greens." Over the course of the next 220 beautifully-designed pages, it catalogues and describes a selection of the 2,500 rare pigments in this world-renowned color collection. Playful yet scholarly texts, outstanding still-life photography, artist quotations and a wonderful glossary make this an essential reference for artists and designers, as well as the perfect gift for anyone with exquisite visual taste. continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 7 x 9.25 in. / 224 pgs / 180 color / 9 duotone / 8 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $38.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $53 GBP £34.00 ISBN: 9780997593549 PUBLISHER: Atelier Éditions AVAILABLE: 1/22/2019 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
An Atlas of Rare & Familiar Colour The Harvard Art Museums' Forbes Pigment Collection
Published by Atelier Éditions. Foreword by Victoria Finlay. Introduction by Narayan Khandekar. Text by Kingston Trinder. Contributions by Pascale Georgiev.
"This gorgeous coffee table book celebrates over 2500 pigments of color that will be visual candy on any countertop in your home." –E News
The Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums encompasses over 2,500 of the world’s rarest pigments. Museum director Edward Forbes started the collection at the turn of the 20th century, in order to preserve the early Italian paintings he had begun to collect. Over the years, the collection grew into a huge apothecary of bottles and beakers, as other art lovers and color experts donated their own pigments. Today the collection continues to grow, and regularly helps experts across the world to research and authenticate paintings.
Visually excavating the museums’ extraordinary collection, An Atlas of Rare & Familiar Colour examines the contained pigments and artefacts—their provenance, composition, symbology and application. It also explores the larger related fields of chromatics, the historical narratives of art and chemistry, and the innovations with which we have sought to better illustrate our aesthetic and expressive compulsions.
The book includes a foreword by renowned British color author Victoria Finlay.
”An encyclopedic photobook of poised still lifes, where each phial, herb and pigment-filled container becomes a character, narrating the fascinating history of color.” –Wallpaper
