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Blauw, rood, groen en goud: een kunstgeschiedenis in vier kleuren
Een bondig overzicht van de kunstgeschiedenis met vier kleuren in de hoofdrol
In Blauw, rood, groen en goud gaat kunsthistoricus Ben Street op zoek naar de geschiedenis van de schilderkunst aan de hand van 48 schilderijen en vier kleuren: hemelsblauw, sensueel rood, gifgroen en glinsterend goud. Deze vier kleuren zijn de sleutel tot fascinerende verhalen: van de pigmenten waarmee de kleuren gemaakt worden – soms bijzonder duur, zoals ultramarijn, of gevaarlijk giftig, zoals smaragdgroen – tot de verschillende betekenissen die de kleuren door de tijd hebben gekregen.
Blauw, rood, groen en goud bevat leuke feiten én geeft een beknopt overzicht van de kunst door de eeuwen heen. Bij elke kleur worden de belangrijkste meesterwerken in chronologische volgorde gepresenteerd, waarmee ook de ontwikkeling in de kunstgeschiedenis duidelijk wordt. Blauw, rood, groen en goud is een boek dat geen kunstliefhebber mag missen.
In Blauw, rood, groen en goud gaat kunsthistoricus Ben Street op zoek naar de geschiedenis van de schilderkunst aan de hand van 48 schilderijen en vier kleuren: hemelsblauw, sensueel rood, gifgroen en glinsterend goud. Deze vier kleuren zijn de sleutel tot fascinerende verhalen: van de pigmenten waarmee de kleuren gemaakt worden – soms bijzonder duur, zoals ultramarijn, of gevaarlijk giftig, zoals smaragdgroen – tot de verschillende betekenissen die de kleuren door de tijd hebben gekregen.
Blauw, rood, groen en goud bevat leuke feiten én geeft een beknopt overzicht van de kunst door de eeuwen heen. Bij elke kleur worden de belangrijkste meesterwerken in chronologische volgorde gepresenteerd, waarmee ook de ontwikkeling in de kunstgeschiedenis duidelijk wordt. Blauw, rood, groen en goud is een boek dat geen kunstliefhebber mag missen.
- GenresArtNonfiction
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
6 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Ben Street
21 books3 followersBen Street is a writer, educator and art historian based in London. He is the author of several books on art for general and younger readers, He has also written for numerous publications, including museum catalogues, monographs and magazines, most regularly Apollo, Art Review and the Times Literary Supplement. He has participated as an expert on TV and radio programmes for the BBC and was the presenter and co-author (with Al Smith) of ‘Duchamp’s Urinal’ for BBC Radio 4. He is currently researching and writing a PhD on the late work of Philip Guston.
He has worked as a lecturer and educator for many museums and educational institutions, including the National Gallery, Tate, the Royal Academy, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Christie’s Education, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York. IHe has devised and written interpretative materials (audio-visual and written guides) for many exhibitions at the Royal Academy, Tate and the National Gallery.
He has worked as a lecturer and educator for many museums and educational institutions, including the National Gallery, Tate, the Royal Academy, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Christie’s Education, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York. IHe has devised and written interpretative materials (audio-visual and written guides) for many exhibitions at the Royal Academy, Tate and the National Gallery.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 11, 2020
Plenty to learn and one to dip back into. Managed to resist the urge to look up and hand-write in all the references to what collections these paintings belong to to know whether I might have or might be able to see them... this time! Seems a strange omission after having read so many other art books that all include it, I've clearly come to depend on the information.
September 13, 2018
“This book takes four different routes through the history of colour in Western painting, starting in the fourteenth century and finishing in the twentieth.” The routes taken – blue, red, green and gold – are based on paintings that have used that particular colour.
Presenting a history of art in this way is not a new idea. For example BBC4 did a series in 2012 called “A History of Art in Three Colours”. That doesn’t matter though.
From the cover I wasn’t expecting much. The cover features no art as such, and I’m wary of art books that have no art on the cover, but I needn’t have worried.
Inside is an introduction and four chapters named after the colours. Each of the four chapters has 12 paintings in it with a page or 2 of text describing each whilst interweaving in “history of art” information such as how landscape painting didn’t really exist in the mainstream until around the 17th century and obviously developments such as impressionism.
There are lots of things I like about this book:
• All the artwork it focuses on is viewable on the fold out pages. That means you don’t need to have a smartphone with you when reading to look up the art, which has sometimes been the case for other books I’ve read before on art. (There are “see also” boxes for each artwork described that point to other artists but this isn’t something that the descriptive text references so you don’t need familiarity with these artists works when reading this).
• The language used is not full of clever words so that I found it easy to read.
• The sections are in bite-size chunks which are also standalone. This means you don’t need to read the book in one go and can read it as and when in any order. But if you do read it in one go then there is a little bit of repetition (e.g. the pigment blue being at one point more expensive than gold is mentioned more than once).
• The author knows the subject.
With most of the art coming from the National Gallery too (they presumably had some involvement, after all their logo is on the back cover) there is the opportunity after reading this book to go on a little trip to London to see most of the art in real life, and in actual size, maybe even taking the book with you as it is quite portable being a book that can fit in a big pocket, which would surely enhance the experience of this book even more.
Presenting a history of art in this way is not a new idea. For example BBC4 did a series in 2012 called “A History of Art in Three Colours”. That doesn’t matter though.
From the cover I wasn’t expecting much. The cover features no art as such, and I’m wary of art books that have no art on the cover, but I needn’t have worried.
Inside is an introduction and four chapters named after the colours. Each of the four chapters has 12 paintings in it with a page or 2 of text describing each whilst interweaving in “history of art” information such as how landscape painting didn’t really exist in the mainstream until around the 17th century and obviously developments such as impressionism.
There are lots of things I like about this book:
• All the artwork it focuses on is viewable on the fold out pages. That means you don’t need to have a smartphone with you when reading to look up the art, which has sometimes been the case for other books I’ve read before on art. (There are “see also” boxes for each artwork described that point to other artists but this isn’t something that the descriptive text references so you don’t need familiarity with these artists works when reading this).
• The language used is not full of clever words so that I found it easy to read.
• The sections are in bite-size chunks which are also standalone. This means you don’t need to read the book in one go and can read it as and when in any order. But if you do read it in one go then there is a little bit of repetition (e.g. the pigment blue being at one point more expensive than gold is mentioned more than once).
• The author knows the subject.
With most of the art coming from the National Gallery too (they presumably had some involvement, after all their logo is on the back cover) there is the opportunity after reading this book to go on a little trip to London to see most of the art in real life, and in actual size, maybe even taking the book with you as it is quite portable being a book that can fit in a big pocket, which would surely enhance the experience of this book even more.
March 22, 2022
Street's view is quite basic here and he has a cursory view on the argument in question and the paintings he chose to support it. Basically, if you want a book that has a bit longer description of the painting than the one next to it in the gallery this is the book for you.
Early on Street mentioned that most of the painting that he's chosen are at the National Gallery of Art so I went there and tried to find the paintings that he talks about and read about them then and there! I think that could be the best way to read this book as it was a fun experience. Even trying to find the right painting was really fun! (Disclaimer: I've been to the National many times and have the place memorised so not sure if everyone could do this!)
That being said, I wouldn't recommend this book unless you want to change up your regular visit to the National.
Early on Street mentioned that most of the painting that he's chosen are at the National Gallery of Art so I went there and tried to find the paintings that he talks about and read about them then and there! I think that could be the best way to read this book as it was a fun experience. Even trying to find the right painting was really fun! (Disclaimer: I've been to the National many times and have the place memorised so not sure if everyone could do this!)
That being said, I wouldn't recommend this book unless you want to change up your regular visit to the National.
March 23, 2021
A brief book but detailed.
For each colour, 12 paintings from the 1500's - 1800's have been chosen, that feature that colour as a main clothing item or background colour, in a flip out format so it can be read alongside the text.
For each colour, 12 paintings from the 1500's - 1800's have been chosen, that feature that colour as a main clothing item or background colour, in a flip out format so it can be read alongside the text.
June 1, 2021
Simple enough for a novice just dipping their toes in the water of art appreciation but interesting. The fold outs are a little bit of a nuisance and some of the images can't be held next to the text to help understand the description, but the quality of the images is good even if a bit small.
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March 19, 2024Great way to go through basic colors and their tremendous art history
I like that the structure is based on the basic colors. I would recommend it to have a quick read over coffee to learn while chilling!
I like that the structure is based on the basic colors. I would recommend it to have a quick read over coffee to learn while chilling!
September 9, 2022
Simple, interesting, light
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews