Blue: The History of a Color. by
Michel Pastoureau
A Great Readable Scholarly Book With Pictures !
Blue has a long and topsy-turvy history in the Western world. Once
considered a hot color, it is now icy cool. The ancient Greeks scorned it as
ugly and barbaric, but most Americans and Europeans now pick it as their
favorite color. In this entertaining history, the renowned medievalist Michel
Pastoureau traces the changing meanings of blue from its rare
appearances in prehistoric art to its international ubiquity today in blue
jeans and Gauloises cigarette packs. Any history of color is, above all, a
social history. Pastoureau investigates how the ever-changing role of blue
in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, heraldry,
clothing, paintings, and popular culture. Beginning with the almost total
absence of blue from ancient Western art and language, the story moves
to medieval Europe. As people began to associate blue with the Virgin
Mary, the color entered the Church despite the efforts of chromophobic
prelates. Blue was reborn as a royal color in the twelfth century and
functioned as a formidable political and military force through the French
Revolution. As blue triumphed in the modern era, new shades were
created, and blue became the color of romance. Finally, Pastoureau
follows blue into contemporary times, when military clothing gave way to
the everyday uniform of blue jeans, and blue became the universal and
unifying color of the Earth as seen from space. With an exceptionally
elegant design and strikingly illustrated with one hundred color plates, Blue
tells the fascinating history of our favorite color and the cultures that have
hated it, loved it, and created great art with it.
Personal Review: Blue: The History of a Color. by Michel
Pastoureau

Woad, Indigo, Azurite, Lapis, Copper Silicate, Blue Vitriol are some of the
sources of the color blue. BLUE, THE HISTORY OF A COLOR, by Michel
Pastoureau, is a beautiful art history book, whose organizing principle is
the color--blue. Pastoureau's book is a bit "Francocentered" but
nevertheless, who better to reflect on blue than a Frenchman. BLUE is
both informative and entertaining and a must for any serious art book
collector. The photgraphy of various works of art--including selected
stained glass windows from the early church--is stunning. The book is
loaded with illustrations showing pages from psalters, cathedral windows,
figurines, and other art. For millions of years, the major colors for artistic
expression were Black-White-Red. Ancient tales such as "Little Red Riding
Hood", "Snow White", and "The Fox and the Crow" reflect this primary
triad. The Romans considered blue an inferior color, especially since the
Celts up North had discovered the leaves from the Woad plant could be
made into a beautiful blue "pastel" suitable for body painting. The liturgal
colors of the Catholic Church date from Roman times and are red-white-
black (green was added later). However, at some point between the time
the Romans lost Europe and the Catholic Church reentered recorded
history, blue became associated with Mary the mother of Christ. When
Abbe Suger built St. Denis, blue began to rival red for supremacy within
the church, although blue never became a vestment color. When St. Louis
built his Chapel and the Capet family became the rulers of France with
Mary as their patron, the fleur de lis on a blue background became the
family standard and the flag of France (fleur de lis = lily of Mary, although it
may be a blue flag or iris). No sooner had blue become THE color of
colors, than the Protestants (Pastoureau calls them "Chromoclasts")
demanded everything be turned black to reflect sin and penance. After
they smashed a few thousand church windows, these reformers, who have
been linked to capitalism, turned everything else black -- from telephones
to automobiles. As Henry Ford once said, the customer can have any color
he wants as long as it's black. Black went on to became the dress of high
society--from stove pipe hats to tuxedoes to the little black dress. During
the Reformation, red and white had been dismissed by the Protestants but
the shot heard round the world gave them a second chance as the new
red-white-blue and blue-white-red flags led to military pants and coats in
similar colors. But red and white were a dismal failure as they made
targets of their wearers. Blue blends into the horizon so it has lasted longer
as a battle garment. Although jungle fatigues and black commando suits
are more often than not seen on modern battlefields, mess dress is still
blue-white-red for many, and UN soldiers wear fleur-de-lis blue helmets.
Blue eventually replaced black on the social front as descendents of the
"Puritans" gave up black frocks for navy blue blazers and jeans.
Pastoureau covers iconography, iconology, symbolism, sociology,
ethnology, the economic aspects of weaving, dyeing, and manufacture,
and a host of other topics associated with the color blue. The book is
incredibly rich in detail but far too short, and in the end it raises more
questions than it addresses. Pastoureau points to many historical sources
that have yet to be translated or fully examined, and art history majors
looking for a thesis subject would be well advised to check out this book.

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