BOOKS ABOUT COLOUR

Paul Green-Armytage 2008

These lists are from my EndNote database.

1.
BOOKLIST FOR CURTIN DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN UNIT
DESIGN COLOUR AND TEXTURE 192
Design students, in my experience, are reluctant readers; they need to be seduced by pictures.
This has influenced my choice of the books that are listed for reference.
Zwimpfer, M. 1988, Color Light Sight Sense, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, West Chester,
Pennsylvania.
Color Light Sight Sense, by Moritz Zwimpfer, was written specifically to
answer the kinds of questions that arise during a program of colour exercises
for students of art and design. Zwimpfer knows his students well and relies
heavily on pictures to explain things. Zwimpfers accounts of the physics,
physiology and psychology of colour are simple and clear and adequate to
satisfy basic curiosity. He also illustrates some examples of the roles played
by colour in nature and culture and he explains something of the technology
of colour reproduction in photography, television and printing.

Kuehni, R. 1997, Color - An Introduction to Practice and Principles, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., New York.
Color An Introduction to Practice and Principles, by Rolf Kuehni, is a book for
more serious students. Kuehni expresses the hope that his book could serve as a
stepping stone to more in-depth studies.
Swirnoff, L. 2003. Dimensional Color. W.W. Norton & Company, New York.
Dimensional Color, by Lois Swirnoff, describes and illustrates the investigations
carried out by Swirnoff and her students. The exercises could form the basis of a
colour curriculum. but that is not why the book is included in the list. The book is
inspirational in that it shows what a rigorous program of visual research can look like.
Kobayashi, S. 1998, Colorist, Kodansha International, Tokyo.
Colorist, by Shigenobu Kobayashi, is a very attractive and inexpensive paperback
which deals with the ways in which colours, colour combinations, textures, patterns,
objects, and scenes communicate particular images. Some of our exercises are based
on Kobayashis ideas but I prefer that students do not buy the book until after the
course since the book contains what could be seen as answers to questions that we
explore. In effect we are testing Kobayashis ideas to see if they are valid in Australia
as they are in Japan.

Farrant, P. 1999, Colour in Nature, Blandford, London.

Colour In Nature, by Penelope Farrant, is a large format paperback, superbly
illustrated, which deals with colours in the natural world. For Farrant, the natural
world includes stars, planets, clouds, rainbows and rocks as well as all the varieties
of flora and fauna. The book includes explanations of the various phenomena in terms
of simple physics and chemistry, but more relevant for designers are the reasons why
things are the colours they are. By showing what roles colours can play in the natural
world the book can be read as a guide to how colours could be used in the cultural
world.
Lenclos, J. P. 1989, The Geography of Color, San'ei Shobo Publishing Co., Tokyo.
The Geography of Colour, by Jean Philippe Lenclos, describes and illustrates the
work of an outstanding colour designer. Lenclos is well known for his analyses of the
colours that belong to particular places and many of these are included in this book.
In addition there are examples of his work in product, graphic, packaging, and interior
design as well as colour schemes for large scale industrial installations and housing
complexes.
Smedal, G. 2001, Longyearbyen in Colour - Status and Challenges, Eide Forlag, Norway.
Longyearbyen in Colour Status and Challenges, by Grete Smedal, documents a
remarkable project where a single designer had responsibility for developing a colour
scheme for an entire town. Longyearbyen is a mining town in the Spitsbergen
archipelago half way between the northern tip of Norway and the North Pole. The
book shows the stark but spectacular mountain landscape around the town and the
buildings before and after they were painted according to Smedals scheme. Smedal
also explains how she tackled the project, her reasons for choosing the colours she
did, and how she used the NCS colour system as a design tool.

2.
BOOKS THAT I ENJOYED and/or REFER TO AS AUTHORITATIVE
Batchelor, D. 2000, Chromophobia, Reaktion Books, London.
Berlin, B. & Kay, P. 1991/1969, Basic Color Terms, University of California Press, Berkeley
and Los Angeles.
Berns, R. 2000, Billmeyer and Saltzman's Principles of Color Technology, 3 edn, John Wiley
& Sons, New York.
Finlay, V. 2002. Colour Travels through the Paintbox. Sceptre (Hodder & Stoughton),
London
Gage, J. 1993, Colour and Culture, Thames and Hudson, London.
Garfield, S. 2000. Mauve. Faber & Faber, London.

Hrd, A. & Sivik, L. 1981, NCS - Natural Color System: A Swedish Standard for Color
Notation, Color Research and Application, vol. 6, no. 3, pp 129-138.
Hardin, C. L. 1988/1993, Color for Philosophers, Expanded edn, Hackett Publishing
Company, Indianapolis.
Hardin, C. L. & Maffi, L. 1997, Color Categories in Thought and Language, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, pp. 347-372.
Hering, E. 1964/1920, Outlines of a Theory of the Light Sense, Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Katz, D. 1935/1911, The World of Colour, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. Ltd.,
London.
Kemp, M. 1990, The Science of Art, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Lenclos, J-P. & Lenclos, D. 2004. Colors of the World: A Geography of Color. W.W. Norton,
New York.
Livingstone, M. 2002. Vision and Art. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York
Jarman, D. 1995, Chroma, Vintage, London.
Osborne, R. 1990, Teaching Colour, The Artist, April, pp. 14-16.
Ruskin, J. 1991/1857, The Elements of Drawing, The Herbert Press, London.
Sherman, P. 1981. Colour Vision in the Nineteenth Century. Adam Hilger Ltd., Bristol.
Wright, W. D. 1967, The Rays are not Coloured, Adam Hilger, London.

3.
BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN PARTICULARLY INFLUENTIAL in ART and DESIGN
(But containing some material which I regard as misleading);
Albers, J. 1975, Interaction of Color, Revised edn, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Arnheim, R. 1974, Art and Visual Perception, The New Version edn, University of California
Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.
Chevreul, M. E. 1967/1839, The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors and their
Application in the Arts, Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York.
Goethe, J. 1970/1810, Theory of Colours, The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Itten, J. 1961, The Art of Color, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Itten, J. 1970, The Elements of Color, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York.

4.
OTHER BOOKS/ARTICLES WORTH LOOKING AT:
Agoston, G. 1987, Color Theory and Its Application in Art and Design, 2 edn, SpringerVerlag, Berlin.
Ball, P. 2002, Bright Earth, Penguin Books, London.
Billger, M. 1999, Colour in Enclosed Space, Doctoral Dissertation, Chalmers University of
Technology, Gothenburg.
Caivano, J. 1991, Cesia: A System of visual Signs Complementing Color, Color Research
and Application, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 258-268.
Cugley, J. & Green-Armytage, P. 2000, Palette of Place, in Habitus 2000 a sense of place,
ed. Stephens, J., Curtin University of Technology, Perth.
Da Pos, O. and Green-Armytage, P. 2007. Colour and Facial Expressions of Emotion.
Colour Design and Creativity 1 (1).
Evans, R. 1948, An Introduction to Color, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Evans, R. 1974. The Perception of Color. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Favre, J.-P. 1969, Color sells your Package, ABC Verlag, Zurich.
Fisher, V. & James, C. 1974. Color in Art A Tribute to Arthur Pope. Fogg Art Museum,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts,.
Fridell Anter, K. 2000, What Colour is the Red House?, Doctoral Dissertation, Royal Institute
of Technology, Stockholm.
Gage, J. 1999, Colour and Meaning, Thames and Hudson, London.
Gage, J. 2006. Colour in Art. Thames & Hudson, London.
Gerritsen, F. 1975, Theory and Practice of Color, Studio Vista, London.
Gerstner, K. 1986, The Forms of Color, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Goldsworthy, A. 1990, Andy Goldsworthy, Viking, London.
Green-Armytage, P. 1995, Primary Confusion, in Aspects of Colour, eds. Arnkil, H. &
Hmlinen, E., The University of Art and Design Helsinki UIAH, Helsinki.
Green-Armytage, P. 1996, Complementary Colours - Description or Evaluation? in Colour
and Psychology, ed. Sivik, L., Scandinavian Colour Institute, Stockholm, pp. 205209.
Green-Armytage, P. 2001, Colour Questions: What? Where? Who? When? Why? How?,
Spectrum, Journal of the Colour Society of Australia 15 (1)
Hrleman, M. 2001, Colour Appearance in Different Compass Orientations, Nordic Journal
of Architectural Research, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 41-48.

Heron, P. 1974. The Shape of Colour. Studio International Journal of Modern Art. 187
(963).
Humphrey, N. 1976, The Colour Currency of Nature, in Colour for Architecture, eds.
Porter, T. and Mikellides, B. Studio Vista, London.
Hurvich, L. 1981, Color Vision, Sinauer Associates Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.
Jacobsen, E. 1948. Basic Color. Paul Theobald, Chicago.
Kaiser, P. & Boynton, R. 1996, Human Color Vision, 2 edn, Optical Society of America,
Washington.
Kandinsky, W. 1977/1910. Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Dover Publications, Inc. New
York.
Kobayashi, S. 1981, The Aim and Method of the Color Image Scale, Color Research and
Application, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 93-107.
Kobayashi, S. 1987, A Book of Colors, Kodansha International, Tokyo.
Kuehni, R. 2003, Color Space and Its Divisions, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New
Jersey.
Linton, H. 1991. Color Consulting. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Linton, H. 1994. Color Forecasting. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
MacAdam, D. 1970, Sources of Color Science, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Mahnke, F. 1996. Color, Environment, and Human Response. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Matisse, H. 1978, Notes of a Painter, in Matisse on Art, ed. Flam, J., Phaidon, Oxford.
Maund, B. 1995, Colours - Their Nature and Representation, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
Maund, B. 2001, The Pluralist Framework for Colours, in AIC 2001 - The Ninth Congress of
the International Colour Association, eds. Chung, R. & Rodrigues, A., SPIE - the
International Society for Optical Engineering, Rochester, New York.
McGinley, P. 2001, The Development of a Large Colour Range for a Paint Company, in
AIC 2001 - The Ninth Congress of the International Colour Association, eds. Chung,
R. & Rodrigues, A., SPIE - the International Society for Optical Engineering,
Rochester, New York
Mollon, J. 1995, Seeing Colour, in Colour: Art & Science, eds. Lamb, T. & Bourriau, J.,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 127-150.
Munsell, A. 1992, A Color Notation, 17 edn, Munsell Color Company, Newburgh, New York.
Nassau, K. 1998. Color for Science, Art and Technology. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Nemcsics, A. 1993. Colour Dynamics Environmental Colour Design. Akadmai Kiado,
Budapest.
Osborne, R. 2004. Colour Influencing Form. Thylesius Books, London.

Parker, A. 2004. In the Blink of an Eye. Free Press, London

Porter, T. and Mikellides, B. 1976, Colour for Architecture, Studio Vista, London.
Riley, C. 1995, Color Codes, University Press of New England, Hanover and London.
Spillmann, W. 1985, Color Order Systems and Architectural Color Design, Color Research
and Application, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 5-11.
Stern, A. 1988, How to See Color and Paint It, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York
Varley, H. 1980, Colour, Mitchell Beazley Artists House, London.
Vernon, M. D. 1971, The Psychology of Perception, 2 edn, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth,
Middlesex.
Wittgenstein, L. 1977/1951. Remarks on Colour. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Wong, W. 1997, Principles of Color Design, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.