Color Science and the Visual Arts: A Guide for Conservators, Curators, and the Curious

An excellent companion book tohttps://www.amazon.com/Color-Management-Quality-Output-Working/dp/0240821114Then if you really want to go a step further there is this one that gets more technicalhttps://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Management-Imaging-Science-Technology/dp/1119223636/ref=sr_1_5This is more of the theory and less of the practical application. But the few diagrams that explain metamerism, simultaneous contrast, spectral overlap and a few of the other ways that our brains trick us have been invaluable to me for ending arguments at work. Plus that cover illusion! No one believes the colors are the same until I mask them individually. This is the first book you should read on color science, and unless you are working in the field probably the only book you need.

This book is undoubtedly an incredible, refined and useful tool the author is providing to any member of the visual arts community who would like to further his/her understanding on colour ! The author, a world-recognised colour scientist, mobilises an amazing pedagogical talent in order to explain in a limpid manner the rather subtle and fascinating issues that are related to colour producing mechanisms, colour perception, description and measurement as well as its reproduction. The choice made in the selected illustrations, the quality of their reproduction as well as the elegant design of their presentation are remarkably elegant and relevant: all these elements are used in such a manner that not only it makes the book content easier to understand by exemplifying it but it also reinforces the pleasure reading it. It is rare to read a scientific book that connects so intelligently and successfully its shape and its content…resulting therefore in what I would call a masterpiece!I am a conservator with some expertise on colour science and museum lighting, both topics I also regularly teach. This book has already joined the author ' past book - Principle of Color Technology - on my list of indispensable references to study in order to better understand colour issues.I hope you will enjoy reading this book as much as I did !

Good book

Color Science and the Visual Arts is a wonderful book, both technically informative and visually beautiful. It covers all of the elements of colour science – a somewhat recondite field combining physics, physiology, psychology and image processing – in an engaging, straightforward and highly visual way, with “only one mathematical formula”, as the author says. Why do colors in paintings change over time, and in different lighting conditions? What is the best lighting for any painting? How are colours measured? These questions and others about colours in art – how they are displayed, reproduced, analysed for art history or conservation – are addressed, with clear explanations accessible to the non-specialist. Key concepts of colour quantification, the fundamental phenomena of colour constancy - and colour inconstancy - lighting and metamerism are covered. There are copious colour illustrations of important paintings with exceptionally fine colour printing as you would expect from a Getty Publication, including, for example, visualisations of how Van Gogh's two paintings of the Bedroom, done a year apart, would have appeared originally, prior to the colour changes that occurred over time. Roy Berns is an expert with first-hand experience of these techniques and a steady voice, naturally suited to teaching. His book is a delight both for students relatively new to the field and for professionals, who will find treasures in the abundant illustrations and examples.