Yellow. History of a color.
Threshold| N° d'inventaire | 22153 |
| Format | 24 x 24 |
| Détails | 240 p., hardcover with dust jacket. |
| Publication | Paris, 2019 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782021420579 |
Today, in Europe, yellow is a discreet color, rarely present in daily life and rarely used in the world of symbols. It was not always so. The peoples of Antiquity saw it as an almost sacred color, that of light, warmth, wealth, and prosperity. The Greeks and Romans gave it an important place in religious rituals, while the Celts and Germans associated it with gold and immortality. The decline of yellow dates back to the Middle Ages, which made it an ambivalent color. On one side, the bad yellow, that of bitter bile and demonic sulfur (a sign of lies, avarice, felony, sometimes illness or madness). It is the color of hypocrites, treacherous knights, Judas, and the Synagogue. The yellow star of sinister memory has its distant roots here. But on the other side there is the good yellow, that of gold, honey and ripe wheat (sign of power, joy, abundance). From the 16th century onwards, the place of yellow in material culture continued to decline. The Protestant Reformation, then the Catholic Counter-Reformation and finally the bourgeois values of the 19th century held it in low esteem. Even if science ranks it among the primary colors, it has hardly been revalued and its symbolism remains ambiguous. Even today, greenish yellow is perceived as unpleasant or dangerous; it carries within it something sickly or toxic. Conversely, the yellow that is closer to orange is joyful, healthy, invigorating, beneficial, like the fruits of this color and the vitamins they are supposed to contain. Profusely illustrated, Yellow is the fifth work in a series begun in 2000 and devoted to the history of colors in Europe, from Antiquity to the present day. It follows Blue. The Story of a Color (2000), Black. The Story of a Color (2008), Green. The Story of a Color (2013) and Red. The Story of a Color (2016).
Today, in Europe, yellow is a discreet color, rarely present in daily life and rarely used in the world of symbols. It was not always so. The peoples of Antiquity saw it as an almost sacred color, that of light, warmth, wealth, and prosperity. The Greeks and Romans gave it an important place in religious rituals, while the Celts and Germans associated it with gold and immortality. The decline of yellow dates back to the Middle Ages, which made it an ambivalent color. On one side, the bad yellow, that of bitter bile and demonic sulfur (a sign of lies, avarice, felony, sometimes illness or madness). It is the color of hypocrites, treacherous knights, Judas, and the Synagogue. The yellow star of sinister memory has its distant roots here. But on the other side there is the good yellow, that of gold, honey and ripe wheat (sign of power, joy, abundance). From the 16th century onwards, the place of yellow in material culture continued to decline. The Protestant Reformation, then the Catholic Counter-Reformation and finally the bourgeois values of the 19th century held it in low esteem. Even if science ranks it among the primary colors, it has hardly been revalued and its symbolism remains ambiguous. Even today, greenish yellow is perceived as unpleasant or dangerous; it carries within it something sickly or toxic. Conversely, the yellow that is closer to orange is joyful, healthy, invigorating, beneficial, like the fruits of this color and the vitamins they are supposed to contain. Profusely illustrated, Yellow is the fifth work in a series begun in 2000 and devoted to the history of colors in Europe, from Antiquity to the present day. It follows Blue. The Story of a Color (2000), Black. The Story of a Color (2008), Green. The Story of a Color (2013) and Red. The Story of a Color (2016).