While this book has many good aspects, like many authors who write about individual paintings, she adds meanings to the paintings that are often bizarre and show too much of her own attitudes and opinions. Because of this, you won't really learn the history of art or really the history of color (there are better books for both).

The book's format is good; it divides the 80 paintings into periods, talking about it, its use of color ad some of the painters involved. It also has blocks of some of the typical colors used by these artists with larger blocks for the more important colors. Each work of art has a two-page spread. On the right is a picture of the painting, along with a list of related works. I liked that many of the works are not well-known; it added to the depth of the book.

On the left page, the outside edge has swatches of the important color in the painting, bigger or smaller according to its use. Above each swatch in small print are the CYMK and RGB values for the colors, making them easy to reproduce. Also on this page is her essay. While most of the essay talks about the painting, its colors, and its composition, she often falls into the trap of telling us what the painting means; these are the weakest parts of the book. Unhappily this seems to be a common fault in art historians, and it can leave a bad taste in the reader's mouth.

In many of the book's chapters, there are two-page essays about color ad technical advances that affected art. These are quite good.

Overall, it's an interesting book, but not a good art history

I love the concept of this book! It was beautiful to look at and very interesting to read about the different art works.

This was such a brilliant book. I couldn't put it down as it held my interest and attention throughout. It was a very interesting and unique way at looking at art that worked so well. Rather than just looking at art through type or time the author looks at the pieces based on the colours explaining how the colours were made and who started using them. The book is still in chronological order but it fascinating looking at the development of each colour. Not only do you see the block colours down the sides but each one has that colours number. There was great text about the painters and the piece of artwork. I love that after each picture the author suggests 3 other paints the would accompany the art work which I just had to Google to see and compare this gave me an even deeper knowledge. Everything just worked perfectly and I really enjoyed the whole experience. I definitely recommend this book to all art fans or those who want to learn. It helped me see art in a different light and helped me learn so much. It was beautifully wrote that I definitely will be looking out for more books by this clearly talented author. 

Only the highest of praise goes out to the author and publishers for bringing us this fascinating book that I love so very much. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/colours-of-art-by-chloe-ashby-quarto-publishing-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

"Colors of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Palettes" by Chloe Ashby is a uniquely presentation of the history of art. Via the use of 80 art works, Ashby provides a fast-paced tour through art history, with a focus on the colors used in each painting. That's a different approach that, for me, was new and engaging. The book is broken into twelve chapters, and each chapter has 1 or 2 articles about specific topics relating to color interspersed with the various artwork covered in the chapter. I personally am partial to artwork covering ancient art all the way up to the start of the 20th century. After that, my interest wanes. Modern art really has to be unique to grab my attention. It has to tell a story that pulls me in, like art from the time-periods I like.
An interesting aspect of this book that I appreciated was the fact that, with each artwork, Ashby provides 3 complementary artworks that can be viewed. I think that it was beneficial to be able to have those extra pieces to reference to. So for one who is a serious student of art history or just an armchair art aficionado, this is definitely the book to read.
Thanks to NetGalley, Chloe Ashby, and Quarto Publishing Group-White Lion for this advanced copy, which I voluntarily read and reviewed.

Colors of Art is an interesting book studying selected artworks from the perspective of the colour palette used by the artists. It spans history from cave paintings to today. There are historical facts and lot of interesting detail. The book encourages you to look at paintings from a different perspective, and the illustrations are beautiful It is an inspiring book for artists and art lovers and would make a great gift.

What a lovely way to look at art! Chloe Ashby invites the reader to think about colour and has chosen 80 paintings that represent how artists have used colour throughout history. From the earthy pigments in cave paintings to twentieth century minimalism, Ashby explores development of pigments, colour palettes, moods, and art styles.

Alongside each painting, Ashby picks out its dominant colours and these are beautifully reproduced as colour palettes. I loved this approach, it made me think about the paintings in new and fresh ways. Great for inspiration. It’s also an accessible book and one that you can return to again and again, especially if (like me) you’re embarking on decorating or other creative projects.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Colours of Art

I cannot even describe how much I loved and was utterly fascinated by this book. I love art, decorating, and books more than anything else in the world, so the trifecta combination of the words, the artwork featured, and the color samples was absolutely amazing. This is also the perfect gift! I cannot say enough good things about this gem. This one is like a free interior decorator as a bonus, too, as you have a million combinations of color that blend beautifully to inspire you.

This book really was not what I was expecting it to be. If you like art and learning about it, this book is for you. I was hoping this book would go into more detail about the actual colors picked by the artist and why...but it was more of what colors were available to them at the time they were creating. There is a lot about the history and facts about each artwork. So overall, a good book, just not what I was expecting it to be when I picked it up.

An excellent art book that focuses on the use of different colours in famous and even less well known paintings. Perfect for students and lovers of the fine arts and art appreciation.

“Color is a Language like any other. Throughout art history, it has been charged with meaning.” (Pg. 29)

Color, Art, and History all in one book. A beautiful look into color and how artists throughout history used certain color palettes to highlight mood, emotions and their talent. Chloë Ashby showcases color in a new light through her new book.

Any designer, artist of any median, art history lover or curious individual will love this book. I recommend it to everyone, from an art history teacher for their students to someone sitting in a cafe.



This ARC was kindly provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Colors of Art—The Story of Art in 80 Palettes
by Chloë Ashby

Artist Palettes Throughout History

“Colors of Art –The Story of Art in 80 Palettes,” by Artist and Author Chloë Ashby, provides art enthusiasts with a chronology of color palettes popular during each significant historical art movement. It’s a synopsis of world history seen through color and artwork. Ashby explains how geopolitical influences surrounded art styles, artist materials, and pigments.

Since the beginning of time, humans have expressed their artistic creativity on cave walls, papyrus, clay, wooden panels, canvas, and paper with the color pigments they’ve found in the natural world around them—from fire soot, tree resins, crushed insects, plant dyes, and ground rocks and minerals.

Dating from 30,000-28,000 B.C.E., one of the earliest known artworks is a drawing of horses (p. 17) discovered on the walls of Chauvet Cave near Vallon-Pont d’Arc, France. These sketches are vibrant and distinct today, although drawn with rudimentary elements of charcoal, ocher, and hematite on the limestone cave walls.

Another example that I find fascinating is the extensive use of gold and gilt in religious art during the high middle ages demonstrating the magnificence of God and those most holy. The Saint Ansanus Altarpiece of the ‘Annunciation’ in the Cathedral of Siena, Italy, created in 1333 by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmia, (p. 33) shimmers with glittering radiance as Archangel Gabriel delivers news to the Virgin Mary (wearing blue), that she will bear a son, Jesus. Henceforward, artists will depict Mary wearing the symbolic color of heaven—in blue robes.

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Title: “Colors of Art— The Story of Art in 80 Palettes,”
Author: Chloë Ashby
Genre: Arts & Photography | History | Non-Fiction (Adult)
Publication Date: 29 August 2022
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group-White Lion


STAR RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Book Maven’s Journal—Reviews for Word Connoisseurs

Reviews are posted promptly on NetGalley, GoodReads, and Twitter; then, upon publication, also to appropriate sales channel sites.

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My sincere thanks and appreciation goes to NetGalley, Author Chloë Ashby, and Quarto Publishing Group-White Lion for this Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) for review.

Colors of Art by Chloë Ashby is a new book about painting and colour.
In this book, Ashby discusses the ways that painting and colours have changed through many paintings. They do this in a roughly chronological order, allowing the reader to easily tell the evolution.
I really liked this book. The information about each painting was concise but informative, and there are also pages scattered throughout that go more in depth about a certain subject, such as the invention of paint tubes. I also like how there is a mix of more well known and less well known paintings. This introduces the reader to new art while also getting to learn more about their favourite paintings. Lastly, the picked paintings are inclusionary. Ashby makes sure to pick artists of different genders, ethnicities, sexualities, and so on.
I feel like this book could have been expanded more. I also would have loved it if there was a list under each painting of other paintings that artist did, so the reader can expand their knowledge of the artist as well.
In conclusion, I think this was a great introductory book to different movements in painting. I would recommend this to anyone looking to learn a little about them.

This book is a treasure for anyone interested in a history of European painting and the palettes associated with each period. It's not for Art History majors who already know all this, but for others (like me) who love art, it is perfect. There are 80 paintings ranging from prehistoric cave paintings to postmodern work, each illustrating the primary characteristics of each period. Next to each plate is a sort of bar graph with boxes showing the dominant colors used in the painting. Each painting has the story of the artist and how the picture represents or departs from the time in which it was painted. Extremely interesting are the author's essays on how paint has been made over the millennia including which colors were toxic and which were later manufactured without the dangerous ingredients (Prussian Blue is a good example). Theories of color, how we perceive it, and many other important subjects that help us to understand how paintings do what they do and how artists achieve those effects are important parts of the book.
The author's writing is lively and full of fascinating facts. Each artist and each painting is described with a balance between too much information and not enough. Also helpful is the list of at least three similar paintings that resemble the plate in question in significant ways.
The author has chosen more than thirty female artists for this book...several of them not terribly well-known yet except by the aforementioned art majors, and all of them worthy of our attention. This is a delicious book, full of gorgeous color and information that will be new to many of us. Highly recommended.

This is a lovely designed book and I like the idea of the palettes on one side and the art on the other. Sometimes I felt the colours weren't entirely right, but that might be because I couldn't put them side by side.
Overall, a nice overview of some important artworks! Always a fan when people put Massacio and Giotto in something.

Those who love painting, color and art history are sure to delight in this book. Both readers who know a great deal about art history and those coming to this title out of curiosity will find much to enjoy here.

In her introduction, the author invites the reader to think about color. This includes imagining a world without it and also the many ways in which we take the colors that are seen each day for granted. Color and painting are inextricably intertwined. Artists choose their colors from the materials that are available to them in their historical period and are also influenced by their favorites or the demands of their patrons as Ms Ashby notes. It is fascinating to look at the results in these individual works and to admire the ways in which they were painted.

The book moves chronologically, beginning with the well known horse paintings that were found in a French cave long ago and ending in the modern day. For each work, there are a collection of swaths of the colors in the work and a high quality reproduction of the piece.

This is a book with which a reader could spend many hours. It can be read in chronological order or dipped into. Either way it is a worthwhile title filled with the sensibility of the author who provides this curated tour.

I received this book as an electronic advanced reader’s copy. I like it enough to want to purchase the book when it is published.

Many thanks to Quarto Publishing Group-White Lion, Frances Lincoln Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 30 August 2022

A detailed sketch of several artworks and their color palettes. I found this book to be extremely beautiful to look at an informative as well.

I love books on art and color palette. This book breaks down the color palette of some of the world’s most important art. It’s beautifully executed and extremely informative. A perfect coffee table book for any art lover!

This book is so colourful and full of beautiful artwork throughout the ages. It’s full of information and it’s wonderful to look through. Perfect gift for an art lover/student.