
The Secret Lives of Color
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Narrated by:
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Kassia St. Clair
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By:
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Kassia St. Clair
About this listen
One of USA Today's “100 Books to Read While Stuck at Home During the Coronavirus Crisis"
The unforgettable, unknown history of colors and the vivid stories behind them.
“Beautifully written.... Full of anecdotes and fascinating research, this elegant compendium has all the answers.” (NPR, Best Books of 2017)
The Secret Lives of Color tells the unusual stories of 75 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.
“This passionate and majestic compedium will leave you bathed in the gorgeous optics of light.” (Elle)
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2017 Kassia St. Clair (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
One of the nation’s top art critics shows how six great artists made old age a time of triumph by producing some of the greatest work of their long careers—and, in some cases, changing the course of art history. Though these six artists differed in many respects, they shared one thing: a determination to go on creating, driven not by the bounding energies of youth but by the ticking clock that would inspire them to produce some of their greatest masterpieces.
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An art history course in one slim book
- By LC on 02-19-23
By: Richard Lacayo
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The Story of Art Without Men
- By: Katy Hessel
- Narrated by: Katy Hessel
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway? Guided by Katy Hessel, art historian and founder of @thegreatwomenartists, discover the glittering paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance, the radical work of Harriet Powers in the nineteenth-century United States, and the artist who really invented the "readymade." Explore the Dutch Golden Age, the astonishing work of postwar artists in Latin America, and the women defining art in the 2020s.
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Great book, no pdf?
- By Amazon Customer on 08-11-24
By: Katy Hessel
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Ninth Street Women
- Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art
- By: Mary Gabriel
- Narrated by: Lisa Stathoplos
- Length: 40 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Five women revolutionize the modern art world in postwar America in this "gratifying, generous, and lush" true story from a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist (Jennifer Szalai, New York Times). Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic, always exhilarating chronicle of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of 20th-century abstract painting - not as muses but as artists.
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Painful pronunciation issues!
- By Curious Artist Librarian on 05-20-19
By: Mary Gabriel
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How Colors Affect You: What Science Reveals
- By: William Lidwell, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: William Lidwell
- Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
- Original Recording
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A must-have course for corporate leaders, design professionals, marketers, and anyone else who communicates visually, How Colors Affect You tells you everything you need to know about the science of color and its impact on all aspects of human experience. These lectures will give you a beautiful new perspective on color - one rooted in credible scientific knowledge and not popular myth.
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Annoyed
- By Steve Herrmann on 04-07-19
By: William Lidwell, and others
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Color Psychology and Color Therapy
- A Factual Study of the Influence of Color on Human Life
- By: Faber Birren
- Narrated by: Dennis Rowley
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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Color Psychology and Color Therapy: A Factual Study of the Influence of Color on Human Life (1950) is a book of color theory by renowned color expert Faber Birren. The work explores the impact of color on human behavior and emotions. Born in 1900 in Chicago, Illinois, Birren began studying color and art as a teen at the Art Institute of Chicago. He attended the University of Chicago as an education major but found that his interest was still in the world of color.
By: Faber Birren
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33 Artists in 3 Acts
- By: Sarah Thornton
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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33 Artists in 3 Acts offers unprecedented access to a dazzling range of artists, from international superstars to unheralded art teachers. Sarah Thornton's beautifully paced, fly-on-the-wall narratives include visits with Ai Weiwei before and after his imprisonment and Jeff Koons as he woos new customers in London, Frankfurt, and Abu Dhabi. She meets Yayoi Kusama in her studio around the corner from the Tokyo asylum that she calls home.
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Very interesting, not engaging read
- By Charles Olivier de Vezin on 04-23-15
By: Sarah Thornton
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Concerning the Spiritual in Art
- By: Wassily Kandinsky
- Narrated by: David Pickering
- Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Featuring an enlightening introduction by the book's translator, Michael T. H. Sadler, providing generational and cultural context for Kandinsky and his work, Concerning the Spiritual in Art gives testimony to the mind and creative expression of Kandinsky and other artists of his generation. This seminal and thought-provoking book exploring the heart of the artistic endeavor belongs in the library of every serious artist and student of modern art.
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A not inestimable detail
- By Julia Robinson on 05-19-25
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Chromophobia
- Focus on Contemporary Issues
- By: David Batchelor
- Narrated by: Peter Coates
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The central argument of Chromophobia is that a chromophobic impulse—a fear of corruption or contamination through color—lurks within much Western cultural and intellectual thought. This is apparent in the many and varied attempts to purge color, either by making it the property of some foreign body—the oriental, the feminine, the infantile, the vulgar, or the pathological—or by relegating it to the realm of the superficial, the supplementary, the inessential, or the cosmetic.
By: David Batchelor
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The Art Spirit
- By: Henri Robert
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its first publication in 1923, The Art Spirit has been a source of inspiration for artists and creatives, from David Lynch to George Bellows. Filled with valuable technical advice, as well as wisdom about the place of art and the artist in American society, this classic work continues to be a must-listen for anyone interested in the power of creation and the beauty of art.
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Forever a classic.
- By YK akin on 11-09-19
By: Henri Robert
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Find Your Artistic Voice
- The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic
- By: Lisa Congdon
- Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author, artist, and illustrator Lisa Congdon brings her expertise to this guide to the process of artistic self-discovery. Featuring advice from Congdon herself and interviews with a roster of established artists, illustrators, and creatives, this one-of-a-kind book will show listeners how to identify and nurture their own visual identity, navigate the influence of artists they admire, push through fear and insecurity, and appreciate the value of their personal journey.
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Almost perfect...
- By Ana Corina on 01-16-21
By: Lisa Congdon
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The Dress Diary
- Secrets from a Victorian Woman's Wardrobe
- By: Kate Strasdin
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1838, a young woman was given a diary on her wedding day. Collecting snippets of fabric from a range of garments—some her own, others donated by family and friends—she carefully annotated each one, creating a unique record of their lives. Her name was Mrs. Anne Sykes. Nearly two hundred years later, the diary fell into the hands of Kate Strasdin, a fashion historian and museum curator. Using her expertise, Strasdin spent the next six years unraveling the secrets contained within the album's pages, and the lives of the people within.
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Fascinating History
- By Cpm405 on 01-09-24
By: Kate Strasdin
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The Steal Like an Artist Audio Trilogy
- How to Be Creative, Show Your Work, and Keep Going
- By: Austin Kleon
- Narrated by: Austin Kleon
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Read by then author, this is an audio compilation of Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work and Keep Going, the bestselling and transformative series on how to unlock your creativity, find community and an audience in the digital age, and stay focused, creative and true to yourself—for life. Includes full text from Steal Like an Artist, on the ten things nobody ever told you about being creative; Show Your Work, on how to take that critical next step on a creative journey; and Keep Going, for anyone trying to sustain a productive life.
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A boring non focus ramble
- By Kenneth Noel on 06-07-21
By: Austin Kleon
Super interesting!
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Wonderful read
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Great listen!
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Wonderful! Entertaining , informative and thought provoking!
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Very entertaining!
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Fascinating
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I also loved her seamless integration of fact and quotes into all the ways in which we take color and chemistry for granted.
However, the book was organized by hue and shade, and this made certain sections repetitive. For instance, ultramarine, indigo, woad and Prussian blue all have overlaps that become difficult to read because they are separate sections and that means certain facts naturally recur.
Overall, the depth and beauty of her research and writing, as well as her voice and narration as bonuses makes me recommend this book without hesitation.
The Things We Do for Color
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This book touches on many dyes: indigo, madder, cochineal, woad, weld,and others. However, the focus is generally on paints because many of the colors come from minerals (cobalt, iron, gold, lapis lazuli, etc. ) or earths (ochres and clays).
The secret life of color is also a history. When did the color come into and out of fashion? Avocado, anyone? Did girls always wear pink? Not at first; they wore blue and boys wore pink.
The accompanying PDF file offers more colors than were discussed in the book. I still don't know what puce is.
I am a dyer, weaver, and spinner
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Put Down Your Brush
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Enjoyed it as short stories
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