Alexandre Masino: May 15, 2019

During the last semester, I had the great pleasure and the privilege to be invited by François Vincent to take over one of his drawing classes at the National Theater School of Canada. François was awarded the Paris Studio of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for six months, so he needed someone to replace him during this period. François has been teaching drawing in the Set and Costume Design Department for decades and he is so beloved by his students that these were very big shoes to fill… I was very honoured that he thought of me, so after accepting I quickly got to work…

The students were truly great, very devoted to their craft and the investment that it takes to push ourselves further. It was a joy to teach them. I must say that this school really offers a great environment for the students to learn and become professionals in their field while promoting a beautiful philosophy of excellency.

All this to say that after tackling sketching, watercolour, and life model sessions, I really wanted to teach a full class on colour. In order to prepare this PowerPoint presentation, I spent the winter enhancing my knowledge. Obviously, approaching a subject for teaching is very different than for our personal practice. In order to do so, I basically read and reread many, many books on the subject. Here is a short list of the books that I highly recommend without any hesitations and that we should all read if we are interested in any field that is related to the world of vision.

First of all, the top of my list is the entire work devoted to colours by Michel Pastoureau! Not only is he one of the very very few historians specializing in colour, he is a great writer and a thorough thinker. His book “Les couleurs de nos souvenirs” won many international awards among which the 2010 Medicis award for the best essay. In order to establish the History of each colour, he is studying them via art history, myths, the use of language, symbolism, technical and scientific developments, moral, religion and the history of costume. I have read all his books in their original French version, but they are translated in English and easy to find. It is very simple: treat yourself and read them all!

Note : the links brings you to amazon Canada so you can have the information on each book. Please order them through your local independent bookstore. We don't want them to disappear!

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Rejoice! The new book of Pastoureau on the colour Yellow is coming out later this year (November 2019). I'm sure it will be another great read to add to the list.

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The second place of my list must go to Philip Ball’s “Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color”. Philip Ball is a British chemist and science writer. His history of pigments and colours is both rooted in art and science; most importantly how both aspects are ultimately intertwining and co-dependant. A great read that will stimulate any painter and colour user.

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In the same vein, I went back to a book I read more than twenty years ago, before the previous books even existed: “The History of Colors” by Manlio Brusatin. This book might not be as thorough as the previous ones, but this 1983 Italian book is dedicated to the return of painting! What is there not to love?

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It is interesting to notice that when reading so many different books on a subject you actually end up reading things in some books that are not true at all. All the books in this post I personally own and are a strong read, but I got a few books from the library that were actually stating falsehoods. Beware.

A good option if you want to read a more illustrated book on the science of colour: “The Secret Language of Color” by Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut. It explains the electromagnetic waves, the anatomy of the eye, colour perception, the physic of rainbows, animal vision and much more. A good coffee table type book. “Light, The Visible Spectrum and Beyond” by Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke is a good complementary book that talks more about nature, the cosmos and physics.

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Finally, in the category of teaching how to use colours, I foremost recommend “Colour, A workshop for artists and designers” by David Hornung. It is a great resource on colour interaction, theory and principles. The second option for a hands-on approach is “Color, A course in mastering the art of mixing colours” by Betty Edwards. She is world-famous for her book “Drawing on the right side of the brain”, but her approach on teaching colour is also interesting.

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Maybe the ancestor of Pantone colour coding is the “Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours”. First published in 1814, this guide to name colours in a systematic way was used by Charles Darwin to describe the colours he encounters in nature through his voyage and his research. The names and the charts are beautiful and can ignite ideas for any colourful project.

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There are tons of “How to” books on colours and how to use colours while painting. The two books that I kept from my university years are “The Book of Color” by José Maria Parramón and “Art Fundamentals, Theory and Practice” by Otto Ocvirk, Robert Stinson, Philip Wigg, Robert Bone and David Cayton. They are now at the 12th edition, but I got the 7th. This book covers the basis of the corpus defining art courses across countries and a good teaching aid.