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Histoire d'une couleur #2
Noir. Histoire d'une couleur
Couleur des ténèbres, de la peur, de la mort et de l’enfer, le noir traîne derrière lui une réputation négative. Et pourtant, au fil des âges, il a acquis respectabilité et élégance, au point de devenir aujourd’hui non seulement la couleur de l’autorité, celle des magistrats et des chefs d’État, mais aussi et surtout celle de l’élégance et du chic.Du noir des pirates au noir de Chanel, Michel Pastoureau retrace la destinée ambivalente de cette couleur pas comme les autres. Ses analyses, comme toujours brillantes et limpides, relient les observations esthétiques aux pratiques sociales (symboles, vie quotidienne) de l’utilisation du noir. Il montre ainsi que sa rareté dans l’art de l’Antiquité et au Moyen Âge tient à la difficulté technique pour obtenir un véritable noir – jusqu’à ce que la morale s’en empare : le noir du péché et de l’humilité devient la couleur de Luther ou Calvin, et gagne peu à peu l’univers pictural, avant de rentrer en grâce dans toutes les sphères de la société…Couleur aux implications morales, affectives, esthétiques…, le symbolisme du noir semble inépuisable, et se renouvelle sans cesse, au point d’acquérir, dans notre monde où la couleur est omniprésente, une connotation presque révolutionnaire.
270 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2008
85 people are currently reading
2880 people want to read
About the author
Michel Pastoureau
117 books251 followersPastoureau was born in Paris on 17 June 1947. He studied at the École Nationale des Chartes, a college for prospective archivists and librarians. After writing his 1972 thesis about heraldic bestiaries in the Middle Ages, he worked in the coins, medals and antiquities department of the French National Library until 1982.
Since 1983 he has held the Chair of History of Western Symbolism (Chaire d'histoire de la symbolique occidentale) and is a director of studies at the Sorbonne's École pratique des hautes études. He is an academician of the Académie internationale d'héraldique (International Academy of Heraldry) and vice-president of the Société française d'héraldique (French Heraldry Society). When he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lausanne in 1996, he was described as an eminent scholar who has made a radical contribution to several disciplines.
Professor Pastoureau has published widely, including work on the history of colours, animals, symbols, and the Knights of the Round Table. He has also written on emblems and heraldry, as well as sigillography and numismatics.
Since 1983 he has held the Chair of History of Western Symbolism (Chaire d'histoire de la symbolique occidentale) and is a director of studies at the Sorbonne's École pratique des hautes études. He is an academician of the Académie internationale d'héraldique (International Academy of Heraldry) and vice-president of the Société française d'héraldique (French Heraldry Society). When he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lausanne in 1996, he was described as an eminent scholar who has made a radical contribution to several disciplines.
Professor Pastoureau has published widely, including work on the history of colours, animals, symbols, and the Knights of the Round Table. He has also written on emblems and heraldry, as well as sigillography and numismatics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
May 9, 2018
Like its predecessor Blue, Black is a fascinating study of the history of the color black in European culture.
June 17, 2019
Um fascinante ensaio sobre a evolução, a importância e a consideração da cor preta ao longo da História, no plano social, cultural, artístico e sociológico.
Muitíssimo bem escrito e inacreditavelmente bem documentado. Uma óptima experiência de leitura.
Muitíssimo bem escrito e inacreditavelmente bem documentado. Uma óptima experiência de leitura.
March 1, 2021
Siyah renin tarihsel serüvenini çok akıcı bir anlatım ve bol kaynak kullanımıyla mükemmel şekilde irdeleyen bir çalışma, inceleme. “Siyah bir renk değildir” diyen Leonardo da Vinci’den, renk spektrumunu keşfeden Newton’a, katolik-protestan çatışmasında renklerin özellikle siyahın rolüne, matem rengi siyahtan anarşizmin rengi siyaha, korsan bayrağı siyahtan Protestan ressamların siyahına kadar bir çok konu zengin örneklerle anlatılıyor.
Siyah üzerinden düşünerek gerçek Ortaçağ karanlığının 17. Yüzyıl olduğunu vurgulayan yazar siyah (kara) kelimesinin hala olumsuz kullanımlarının yaygın olduğunu ( karaborsa, kara liste, kara büyü, kara para) ancak halen otoriteyi temsil ettiğini de ( hakim ve savcıların cübbeleri, hakemlerin formaları) vurguluyor. Edebiyat ve sanatta siyah irdeleniyor. Çok iyi bir bilgi kaynağı, keyifle okunuyor.
Siyah üzerinden düşünerek gerçek Ortaçağ karanlığının 17. Yüzyıl olduğunu vurgulayan yazar siyah (kara) kelimesinin hala olumsuz kullanımlarının yaygın olduğunu ( karaborsa, kara liste, kara büyü, kara para) ancak halen otoriteyi temsil ettiğini de ( hakim ve savcıların cübbeleri, hakemlerin formaları) vurguluyor. Edebiyat ve sanatta siyah irdeleniyor. Çok iyi bir bilgi kaynağı, keyifle okunuyor.
September 27, 2017
у пророка ісаї є гарне: коли б гріхи ваші були, як багряниця, вони стануть білими, як сніг; коли б, мов кармазин, були червоні, стануть, як вовна (1, 18). гарне й дивне, бо якби ми писали його зараз, то білому, найімовірніше, було би протиставлено чорний. як сажа, наприклад, темна і липка – дуже відповідний образ.
але чорно-біла опозиція існувала не одвіку; ба більше, розказує дивовижну річ пастуро, остаточно вона оформилася тільки у зв'язку з благословенним гутенбергом і його верстатом, бо в друкованих книжках почали застосовувати справді чорне чорнило, тоді як у манускриптах воно було найчастіше рудувате. а ще з друком книжок збіглося поширення в європі паперу – білого.
оцей естетичний бік гутенбергівської революції для мене став не те щоб несподіванкою, але близько: я ніби й знала, що книгодрукування змінило світ, та ніколи не замислювалася, як же глибоко.
але чорно-біла опозиція існувала не одвіку; ба більше, розказує дивовижну річ пастуро, остаточно вона оформилася тільки у зв'язку з благословенним гутенбергом і його верстатом, бо в друкованих книжках почали застосовувати справді чорне чорнило, тоді як у манускриптах воно було найчастіше рудувате. а ще з друком книжок збіглося поширення в європі паперу – білого.
оцей естетичний бік гутенбергівської революції для мене став не те щоб несподіванкою, але близько: я ніби й знала, що книгодрукування змінило світ, та ніколи не замислювалася, як же глибоко.
May 27, 2023
My exploration of colour continues, and this time I'm back with Black - The History of a Color by Michel Pastoureau. A hefty hard cover with beautiful artwork inside, this massive tome took me several months to read; leaving me wondering whether renewing it nine times might qualify me for some kind of library record.
Topics explored included white and black forming opposites, as light and dark, good and evil.
It was in the specifics that my reading interest picked up. Tidbits about history, like this about chess:
"In the original Indian game, and then in the Arabic-Muslim version, black pieces and red pieces opposed each other on the chessboard - as is still the case today in the East. These two colors formed a pair of opposites in Asia from time immemorial. But in Christian Europe that black/red opposition, so striking in India and Islamic lands, had little significance." Page 42
That's quite interesting, isn't it? But that's not all.
"...over the course of the eleventh century the color of one set of pieces changed to provide an opposition conforming more to Western values, and white pieces faced red pieces on the board." Page 42
I had no idea that European chess boards sported white and red chess pieces for several centuries. Then, in the mid thirteenth century, the colour combinations changed to black/white, which is how we know the game today.
I'm also interested in how the colour black has been perceived in the past, and the ongoing shifts that happen every few generations:
"After the year 1000 the color black began to become less prominent in daily life and social codes and then to lose a good portion of its symbolic ambivalence. In Roman antiquity and throughout the high Middle Ages good black and bad black coexisted: on the one hand, the color was associated with humility, temperance, authority, or dignity; on the other hand, it evoked the world of darkness and the dead, times of affliction and penitence, sin and the forces of evil." Page 46
In the mid 1300s, both before and after the black plague, black signified wealth and public authority as monks and religious orders, lawyers, judges and magistrates began wearing black, making it austere and even virtuous. Following on were clerks and those in government, followed by university professors, lending authority and knowledge to the colour.
You might know that queens in France once wore white when in mourning, but you may not know - or remember - who was responsible for changing the fashion to black for mourning:
"At the end of the late Middle Ages, the kings of France still wore purple for mourning, and the queens still wore white. But at the turn of the sixteenth century, Anne of Brittany...introduced to the French court the use of black for mourning queens." Page 71
That reminds me of another area of interest I have, Victorian mourning etiquette. In fact, I have a few books on my TBR on the topic, but back to Black:
"In the fifteenth century, gray experienced an astonishing promotion. Not only did it make its entry into the wardrobes of kings and princes, but symbolically it became the color of hope." Page 110
I didn't know about the popularity of grey in this period, with the colour even going so far as to represent hope and joy. The trend extended to textile arts and pewter became a sign of high rank when it wasn't previously valued until that time. This reminded me of the sudden rise in the preference for the colour charcoal in business work attire, curtains and couches that came around in the 2000s.
Another random fact, this time about rainbows. I didn't know that:
"Until the seventeenth century,... rainbows were never represented as they are today. Sometimes they had three colors, sometimes four, rarely five, and these colors formed different sequences within the arc than they do in the spectrum." Page 148
How did I never notice this before? That's absolutely fascinating to me! Why wouldn't artists paint or draw what they saw? The rainbows seen hundreds of years ago are the same we see today and they clearly have more than four colours. Perhaps it was to conserve paint or pigment?
If you're old enough to remember the emo phase of the 1990s, then you might be surprised to learn it was nothing new. As the saying goes, history repeats itself. In the chapter entitled The Poetics of Melancholy, the author informs us:
"In the nineteenth century, two attributes often accompanied the representation of the Romantic artist or poet: black clothes and a "melancholic" stance..." Page 165
Later, Pastoureau points out that black leather jackets worn by bikies and rock stars once indicated the wearer was a rebel or an outcast. Now, wearing black is no longer transgressive and doesn't draw attention in the way it once did. Other things change too. Where white was once the most common colour of underwear, this trend has reversed and now black is the most popular. Go figure!
I've always been interested in how the colour black has been viewed by people across time and how it's gone from monastic and austere (Benedictine Monks, and later the Puritans), to officious and indicating an office of good standing, to rebellious and counter culture (goth, emo), to formal wear.
If you're interested in books about colour, you might like to check out my reviews of: Color - A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay or Chromatopia - An Illustrated History of Colour by David Coles.
I borrowed Black from the library, and I don't think I've satisfied my colour curiosity just yet, with the following titles still on my TBR:
- The Colour Code by Paul Simpson
- Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Violet by Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut
- Red: A History of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss Harvey
Michel Pastoureau presented an academic approach to his subject matter, and as a result, I found some of the content engrossing and some tediously detailed. Nevertheless, I'm still very keen to read his offering on stripes, The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes, but now I know not to hope for an informal Mary Roach type presentation.
Topics explored included white and black forming opposites, as light and dark, good and evil.
It was in the specifics that my reading interest picked up. Tidbits about history, like this about chess:
"In the original Indian game, and then in the Arabic-Muslim version, black pieces and red pieces opposed each other on the chessboard - as is still the case today in the East. These two colors formed a pair of opposites in Asia from time immemorial. But in Christian Europe that black/red opposition, so striking in India and Islamic lands, had little significance." Page 42
That's quite interesting, isn't it? But that's not all.
"...over the course of the eleventh century the color of one set of pieces changed to provide an opposition conforming more to Western values, and white pieces faced red pieces on the board." Page 42
I had no idea that European chess boards sported white and red chess pieces for several centuries. Then, in the mid thirteenth century, the colour combinations changed to black/white, which is how we know the game today.
I'm also interested in how the colour black has been perceived in the past, and the ongoing shifts that happen every few generations:
"After the year 1000 the color black began to become less prominent in daily life and social codes and then to lose a good portion of its symbolic ambivalence. In Roman antiquity and throughout the high Middle Ages good black and bad black coexisted: on the one hand, the color was associated with humility, temperance, authority, or dignity; on the other hand, it evoked the world of darkness and the dead, times of affliction and penitence, sin and the forces of evil." Page 46
In the mid 1300s, both before and after the black plague, black signified wealth and public authority as monks and religious orders, lawyers, judges and magistrates began wearing black, making it austere and even virtuous. Following on were clerks and those in government, followed by university professors, lending authority and knowledge to the colour.
You might know that queens in France once wore white when in mourning, but you may not know - or remember - who was responsible for changing the fashion to black for mourning:
"At the end of the late Middle Ages, the kings of France still wore purple for mourning, and the queens still wore white. But at the turn of the sixteenth century, Anne of Brittany...introduced to the French court the use of black for mourning queens." Page 71
That reminds me of another area of interest I have, Victorian mourning etiquette. In fact, I have a few books on my TBR on the topic, but back to Black:
"In the fifteenth century, gray experienced an astonishing promotion. Not only did it make its entry into the wardrobes of kings and princes, but symbolically it became the color of hope." Page 110
I didn't know about the popularity of grey in this period, with the colour even going so far as to represent hope and joy. The trend extended to textile arts and pewter became a sign of high rank when it wasn't previously valued until that time. This reminded me of the sudden rise in the preference for the colour charcoal in business work attire, curtains and couches that came around in the 2000s.
Another random fact, this time about rainbows. I didn't know that:
"Until the seventeenth century,... rainbows were never represented as they are today. Sometimes they had three colors, sometimes four, rarely five, and these colors formed different sequences within the arc than they do in the spectrum." Page 148
How did I never notice this before? That's absolutely fascinating to me! Why wouldn't artists paint or draw what they saw? The rainbows seen hundreds of years ago are the same we see today and they clearly have more than four colours. Perhaps it was to conserve paint or pigment?
If you're old enough to remember the emo phase of the 1990s, then you might be surprised to learn it was nothing new. As the saying goes, history repeats itself. In the chapter entitled The Poetics of Melancholy, the author informs us:
"In the nineteenth century, two attributes often accompanied the representation of the Romantic artist or poet: black clothes and a "melancholic" stance..." Page 165
Later, Pastoureau points out that black leather jackets worn by bikies and rock stars once indicated the wearer was a rebel or an outcast. Now, wearing black is no longer transgressive and doesn't draw attention in the way it once did. Other things change too. Where white was once the most common colour of underwear, this trend has reversed and now black is the most popular. Go figure!
I've always been interested in how the colour black has been viewed by people across time and how it's gone from monastic and austere (Benedictine Monks, and later the Puritans), to officious and indicating an office of good standing, to rebellious and counter culture (goth, emo), to formal wear.
If you're interested in books about colour, you might like to check out my reviews of: Color - A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay or Chromatopia - An Illustrated History of Colour by David Coles.
I borrowed Black from the library, and I don't think I've satisfied my colour curiosity just yet, with the following titles still on my TBR:
- The Colour Code by Paul Simpson
- Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Violet by Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut
- Red: A History of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss Harvey
Michel Pastoureau presented an academic approach to his subject matter, and as a result, I found some of the content engrossing and some tediously detailed. Nevertheless, I'm still very keen to read his offering on stripes, The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes, but now I know not to hope for an informal Mary Roach type presentation.
November 6, 2021
"The problems of color are always social problems because humans do not live alone but in societies."
February 22, 2010
Michel Pastoureau’s BLACK: THE HISTORY OF A COLOR is a fascinating look at attitudes toward black from prehistory to the present. Pastoureau considers the changing significance of black in, among other things, myth, religion, superstition, art, and fashion.
During the development of Christianity, for example, black was often associated with death and with Satan, but at different periods, the meaning fluctuated radically.
Monastic garb was originally black, gray, brown or white, but debates raged for centuries as to which was the most appropriate color. In the Reformation, Protestant divines, and eventually their followers, dressed in black, a situation that still affects us today.
In many cases, as with the Reformation, black had a moral value. Pastoureau even points out that, although the technology to produce color films was developed by 1915, color films did not flourish for more than 20 years thereafter because color was somehow thought to be immoral.
Pastoureau discusses the notion of the primary colors, which changed dramatically when Sir Isaac Newton discovered the color spectrum, thereby establishing that neither black nor white was actually a color.
Color choices were also affected by the technology of dyeing, which changed gradually over time, allowing not only richer tones of black but also better and different color choices.
In the course of considering changing attitudes toward black, Pastoureau also addresses many other colors, thereby giving us a completer picture than a consideration of black alone might have done.
This volume is a worthy successor to the two other Pastoureau books I’ve read – BLUE: THE HISTORY OF A COLOR and THE DEVIL’S CLOTH: A HISTORY OF STRIPES AND STRIPED FABRIC – and I recommend it to anyone interested in the development of color or who just wants to discover new ideas they may never have thought about before.
During the development of Christianity, for example, black was often associated with death and with Satan, but at different periods, the meaning fluctuated radically.
Monastic garb was originally black, gray, brown or white, but debates raged for centuries as to which was the most appropriate color. In the Reformation, Protestant divines, and eventually their followers, dressed in black, a situation that still affects us today.
In many cases, as with the Reformation, black had a moral value. Pastoureau even points out that, although the technology to produce color films was developed by 1915, color films did not flourish for more than 20 years thereafter because color was somehow thought to be immoral.
Pastoureau discusses the notion of the primary colors, which changed dramatically when Sir Isaac Newton discovered the color spectrum, thereby establishing that neither black nor white was actually a color.
Color choices were also affected by the technology of dyeing, which changed gradually over time, allowing not only richer tones of black but also better and different color choices.
In the course of considering changing attitudes toward black, Pastoureau also addresses many other colors, thereby giving us a completer picture than a consideration of black alone might have done.
This volume is a worthy successor to the two other Pastoureau books I’ve read – BLUE: THE HISTORY OF A COLOR and THE DEVIL’S CLOTH: A HISTORY OF STRIPES AND STRIPED FABRIC – and I recommend it to anyone interested in the development of color or who just wants to discover new ideas they may never have thought about before.
April 3, 2015
This book is great, I loved it. It's very informative, never boring, and touches on a large variety of areas, including heraldry, religion, fashion, optics, painting, dyeing, race relations, bereavement and so on. It's well-researched, full of historical anecdotes, and very entertaining. I learned a lot, often about subjects I didn't know anything about, and yet I never felt out of my depth. Pastoureau's narrative voice is very agreeable.
For anyone looking to read his books on colour, I'd recommend starting with this one instead of reading them in order of publication. While Blue: The History of a Color is very specifically about the colour blue, this one touches more on colours in general, their hierarchy throughout history and so on, which makes it a better introduction to the history of colours as a whole -- and is also, of course, relevant to the history of black specifically (is it a colour or is it not?).
Four and a half stars. Recommended to pretty much anyone.
For anyone looking to read his books on colour, I'd recommend starting with this one instead of reading them in order of publication. While Blue: The History of a Color is very specifically about the colour blue, this one touches more on colours in general, their hierarchy throughout history and so on, which makes it a better introduction to the history of colours as a whole -- and is also, of course, relevant to the history of black specifically (is it a colour or is it not?).
Four and a half stars. Recommended to pretty much anyone.
December 17, 2016
Siyah renginin tarihi daha iyi anlatılamazdı. Çok teknik bir anlatım içerdiği için zaman zaman içimi baysa da uzun zamandır merak ettiğim bir kitabı da aradan çıkardığım için keyifliyim.
March 2, 2017
Este historiador francés, experto en historia medieval, simbolismo, paleografía y heráldica, tiene además una singular afición por la historia y el simbolismo de los colores y cómo éstos ha ido cambiando a medida que avanza el tiempo. En este ensayo aborda el color negro y resulta verdaderamente apasionante descubrir como pasó de ser un color que no era considerado como tal, al color del origen de las cosas, el color del diablo y finalmente un color de lujo. Muy, muy interesante.
December 13, 2010
This strikingly designed, richly illustrated book consisting of nearly 100 historical and artistic plates traces the history of the color black, providing a sociological history charting its changing symbolism and shades of meaning. Fascinating reading.
October 24, 2015
this book is not quite up to the standards of "Blue", but still can't wait to read the next in the series, "Green." these books are easy to read and full fascinating information about the perception of color through European history.
March 11, 2016
More of a 4.5, but given how much I enjoyed it, learned, and incessantly felt the need to talk about it with my friends, erring on the side of more stars is the way to go.
Read
September 26, 2024Shout out to the Seely G. Mudd Library at Lawrence University for fulfilling this outer-library loan since the public library system didn't have the title. This was a delight to read. It was a good follow-up book to his first History of a Color book, Blue. It's similar in format and not overly redundant (although black shares many converging history points with blue). and he's still detailed when he has to rehash details he's already covered. This'll mark three History of a Color books that I've read. I believe the next chronologically published one is Red.
Like Blue and Green, this book really made me think about how the color black is assigned meaning and worth -- what would you think of someone if they showed up to a funeral in an orange high-vis vest, or even something tamer like a red or yellow or green suit? why is black ink on white paper popular? or why is your government ID in black and white? why were the 1900s full of vehicles, machines, and objects available only in black, grays, white, browns, and occasionally blue?
Some answers are clearly answered by social history; others seem to be obviously technical answers. But nay, it's trickily hidden social influences. Colors for mourning ranged throughout history from black to purple to blue to gray to white. We've just settled on black for now. Scrolls and bound writings (now called a book, back then called a codex) were hand-written with colorful embellishments ranging in all the colors of the rainbow on naturally beige or light-yellow paper. The printing press killed the multi-colored landscape of writing and established that black ink, sometimes expensive and sometimes worse in quality to browns or blues, was best readable on and greatly contrasted by expensively bleached (before they understood chlorine) white paper. The final two questions can be answered in part by an inherited distrust of color. Color was seen as a frivolous and vain thing by Protestantism; black, grays, white, brown, then later dark blue were seen as moral colors. Many industrialists, like Henry Ford, were staunch Protestants who applied this strict moral code to the products they sold. BnW photography is held to be more precise and accurate than color photography, which is why your passport and driver's license will print your mug sans color (even though it's more expensive to do so).
What an astounding book. Another banger by M. Pastoureau. The legend never misses.
Like Blue and Green, this book really made me think about how the color black is assigned meaning and worth -- what would you think of someone if they showed up to a funeral in an orange high-vis vest, or even something tamer like a red or yellow or green suit? why is black ink on white paper popular? or why is your government ID in black and white? why were the 1900s full of vehicles, machines, and objects available only in black, grays, white, browns, and occasionally blue?
Some answers are clearly answered by social history; others seem to be obviously technical answers. But nay, it's trickily hidden social influences. Colors for mourning ranged throughout history from black to purple to blue to gray to white. We've just settled on black for now. Scrolls and bound writings (now called a book, back then called a codex) were hand-written with colorful embellishments ranging in all the colors of the rainbow on naturally beige or light-yellow paper. The printing press killed the multi-colored landscape of writing and established that black ink, sometimes expensive and sometimes worse in quality to browns or blues, was best readable on and greatly contrasted by expensively bleached (before they understood chlorine) white paper. The final two questions can be answered in part by an inherited distrust of color. Color was seen as a frivolous and vain thing by Protestantism; black, grays, white, brown, then later dark blue were seen as moral colors. Many industrialists, like Henry Ford, were staunch Protestants who applied this strict moral code to the products they sold. BnW photography is held to be more precise and accurate than color photography, which is why your passport and driver's license will print your mug sans color (even though it's more expensive to do so).
What an astounding book. Another banger by M. Pastoureau. The legend never misses.
Read
January 22, 2021all i’m asking is why did he have to say “splendidly exhibiting his negritude” on page 85 and “pretty female flesh” on page 193 and give his unsolicited opinion many times in this nonfiction book... stop letting old white men run wild like this
November 29, 2018
У Пастуро целая серия книг про цвета в европейской культуре, и в частности в одежде. Эта действительно в основном про чёрный, но по дороге будет и про другие цвета, и про изучение истории цвета в принципе.
«Давайте представим себе, что через двести или триста лет какой-нибудь историк цвета решит изучать цветовой мир, окружавший нас в 2008 году, по фотографиям, модным журналам или кинофильмам: он увидит буйство красок, не имеющее ничего общего с хроматической реальностью, в которой мы живем сейчас, по крайней мере в Западной Европе».
И всякие интересные истории.
«На заре существования шахмат в Индии, а затем в арабо-мусульманском мире черные сражались против красных (такими шахматами пользуются в землях ислама до сих пор), поскольку в Азии с незапамятных времен именно эти два цвета составляли устойчивую оппозицию.
В Европе черный и красный не воспринимались как антагонисты. Вот почему уже в XI веке пришлось изменить цвет фигур у одной из сторон, чтобы создать оппозицию, доступную западному пониманию: отныне на шахматной доске белые будут сражаться с красными. В феодальную эпоху антагонизм белого и красного среди мирян ощущался более остро, чем оппозиция белое/черное, особенно когда речь шла о религии. Два или три столетия на шахматных досках Европы красные будут сражаться против белых, и клетки будут выкрашены в соответствующие цвета».
Про чёрный будет много всего. В разное время это и цвет греха, и цвет смирения. И цвет траура, и цвет праздника. И цвет, и противоположность цветному. И Пастуро довольно занимательно показывает, как все это происходит.
Для любопытствующего читателя иногда слишком много подробностей, но историку костюма они, например, могут очень пригодиться.
«Давайте представим себе, что через двести или триста лет какой-нибудь историк цвета решит изучать цветовой мир, окружавший нас в 2008 году, по фотографиям, модным журналам или кинофильмам: он увидит буйство красок, не имеющее ничего общего с хроматической реальностью, в которой мы живем сейчас, по крайней мере в Западной Европе».
И всякие интересные истории.
«На заре существования шахмат в Индии, а затем в арабо-мусульманском мире черные сражались против красных (такими шахматами пользуются в землях ислама до сих пор), поскольку в Азии с незапамятных времен именно эти два цвета составляли устойчивую оппозицию.
В Европе черный и красный не воспринимались как антагонисты. Вот почему уже в XI веке пришлось изменить цвет фигур у одной из сторон, чтобы создать оппозицию, доступную западному пониманию: отныне на шахматной доске белые будут сражаться с красными. В феодальную эпоху антагонизм белого и красного среди мирян ощущался более остро, чем оппозиция белое/черное, особенно когда речь шла о религии. Два или три столетия на шахматных досках Европы красные будут сражаться против белых, и клетки будут выкрашены в соответствующие цвета».
Про чёрный будет много всего. В разное время это и цвет греха, и цвет смирения. И цвет траура, и цвет праздника. И цвет, и противоположность цветному. И Пастуро довольно занимательно показывает, как все это происходит.
Для любопытствующего читателя иногда слишком много подробностей, но историку костюма они, например, могут очень пригодиться.
July 28, 2016
Pastoureau discusses the color black in artistic and other contexts, especially its changing popularity and symbolism. There is a lot of interesting information about the cultural and scientific context of color from prehistory to the present.
Occasionally ideas and even specific phrases are repeated, and the translation of some names and phrases is clumsy. For example, Manet's painting of boats in the French city of Boulogne is identified as Bologna; Saint Benedict is given both his French name (Benoit) and his English name on the same page.
I enjoyed this book, especially learning about the perception and classification of color before Newton's publication of his prism experiments and the scientific idea of the spectrum. I enjoyed his previous book "Blue" a bit more, but look forward to reading "Green" next.
Occasionally ideas and even specific phrases are repeated, and the translation of some names and phrases is clumsy. For example, Manet's painting of boats in the French city of Boulogne is identified as Bologna; Saint Benedict is given both his French name (Benoit) and his English name on the same page.
I enjoyed this book, especially learning about the perception and classification of color before Newton's publication of his prism experiments and the scientific idea of the spectrum. I enjoyed his previous book "Blue" a bit more, but look forward to reading "Green" next.
January 5, 2013
Michel Pastoureau's book "Blue: The History of a Color" was an amazing read, and i bought the sequel "Black" at the same time. Sorry to say that i only just now finished reading it, and it is every bit as interesting as its predecessor. My only tiny quibble is that the Blue volume talks about the difficulties that dyers had in the Middle Ages achieving a true black, because of restrictions that said you couldn't dye red and blue at the same location; this means that some of the information is the Black volume will be redundant to those who have read Blue. But the rest of the book is awesome, as is the beautiful production.
January 2, 2021
Questo è il primo della serie, quindi contiene qualche "particolarità"... in particolar modo Pastoureau è più incline del solito a dare i suoi pareri ("il più grande scienziato di sempre", "il più grande pittore di sempre")... onestamente non è il massimo in un libro che dovrebbe essere divulgativo, ma che contiene più del 10% di bibliografia.
Non arrivo a dire "letto uno, letti tutti", ma sicuramente c'è "diminishing return", per dirla alla inglese, ossia ci sono molte ripetizioni. Qualche nota interessante, comunque, l'ho trovata.
Non arrivo a dire "letto uno, letti tutti", ma sicuramente c'è "diminishing return", per dirla alla inglese, ossia ci sono molte ripetizioni. Qualche nota interessante, comunque, l'ho trovata.
April 5, 2011
A few years back, I read Blue: The History of a Color, by the same author. This is the sort of history that's right up my alley, microscopic almost to the point of absurdity. It's very interesting, and beautifully illustrated. The meaning of the color black hasn't changed that terribly much, but it's still interesting to see all of the different meanings, in art and fashion and everything else, gone through all in one place.
January 10, 2025
Uma história bem abrangente, mas muito esclarecedora, sobres diferentes atitudes culturais quanto à cor preta, e como evoluíram ao longo dos séculos.
Eu já tinha lido o Verde, então sabia o que esperar, mas foi maravilhoso. Os campos de ciências são todos dialógicos, e Pastoureau, como outros historiadores que admiro, demonstra isso muito bem.
Eu já tinha lido o Verde, então sabia o que esperar, mas foi maravilhoso. Os campos de ciências são todos dialógicos, e Pastoureau, como outros historiadores que admiro, demonstra isso muito bem.
April 28, 2015
Beautiful, with many insights, especially pertaining to the early history of the color.
August 5, 2016
Wonderful book, rich in information and beautifully illustrated. Looking forward to reading more from the author.
June 28, 2016
Worthwhile as an historical reference. Lush color plates of paintings illustrating his references.
July 21, 2017
Un livre simple et de rare précision!
December 27, 2017
forte valeur heuristique, passionant, dommage que les ultimes pages contiennent des jugements de valeur sur les couleurs à la mode dans les années 1950 (pastels) et 1970.
February 10, 2019
Чудова книга. Автор тримає марку серії й продовжує захопливо писати. В книжці є багато цікавих даних з історії чорного, які надають матеріали для роздумів.
February 1, 2025
Un essai stimulant sur l'histoire de la perception culturelle d'une couleur à part et pourtant essentielle de notre civilisation. Que de références, de travaux lus et cités, d'observations et d'informations dans des domaines si variés de la société : mode, rapports sociaux, agriculture, sciences, religion, techniques de teintures ou d'impression, peinture, cinéma. Quelle érudition que celle de Michel Pastoureau ! Il peut décliner sa "recette" (apparemment rentable) en autant de tomes qu'il y a de couleurs dans le spectre (et je ne parle pas des 7...) il trouvera toujours chez moi un lecteur intéressé et reconnaissant face à un tel savoir, démonstration rare de la vraie culture humaniste dans ce qu'elle a de plus noble et précieuse.
December 12, 2021
Увлекательно и легко написанная книга, насколько глубокая — не берусь судить. Очень жаль, что автор ограничивается только Западной Европой. С другой стороны, спасибо и на том ) Попробую прочитать еще одну из той же серии.
November 10, 2020
Багато повторень з інших книжок у серії та самоповторень всередині книжки. Все одно є цікаві факти про чорний колір.
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