And the history is fascinating: a deadly, poisonous, sometimes disgusting history. Whether it’s making pigments from animals, fruits, minerals or mummified bodies, it’s covered in there somewhere. Chromatopia is a great coffee table type book to dip in and out of at your leisure.
To round off the package there’s also a handy glossary towards the front, together with an overview of some colour basics, touching on some colour theory and cultural meanings/significances. One of the most intriguing sections is a selection of pigment recipes towards the back of the book, in case you fancy trying your hand at a bit of chemistry.
And in keeping with the rest of the histories featured in the book, at least one of the recipes is potentially poisonous.
This review originally appeared on the AOI blog.
