Color in the age of impressionism: commerce, technology, and art

Abstract

"Analyzes the impact of color technologies on the visual culture of nineteenth-century France, from the early commercialization of synthetic dyes to the Lumière brothers' perfection of the autochrome color photography process. Examines the development of the basic aesthetic schemata of modern visual culture"--Provided by publisher.

Contents

Michel-Eugène Chevreul, color, and the dangers of excessive variety -- From blue roses to yellow violets : flowers and the cultivation of color -- Impressionism's chemical aesthetic : the materials and meanings of color -- Fireworks : color, fantasy, and the visual culture of modern enchantment -- Chromolithography : posters, trade cards, and the politics of ephemera collecting in fin-de-siècle France -- Epilogue : autochromes and neo-impressionism : the end of the age of impressionism.