COLOR PERMEATES EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES, IN OUR INTERIORS, OUR FASHION AND EVERY CONCEIVABLE OBJECT. There is also an emotional reaction to every color. We decide the colors we want to wear and the colors we are surrounded by whether in our homes or the objects that we use. Businesses are attune to colors to elicit a reaction from a potential buyer and end user. Now Pantone, the world-renowned color authority and the pioneer of color categorization for design professionals worldwide has released PANTONE The 20th Century in Color.
[Chronicle Books, $40 U.S.]

This consumer relevant book is a “history book through the lens of color,” explains Keith Recker who with co-author Leatrice Eiseman collaborated on this compilation of a hundred years of the evolution of color. These two color experts give the reader insight into the creative, cultural, and social influences of the day. In addition to their work with Pantone, each has an extensive career that is associated with color. Eiseman, considered a “color guru,” is a color consultant with numerous industries, has authored many books on color, holds color seminars, and appears in many magazines, both national and international. Recker, in addition to his color and trend consulting, has also been influential in shaping brands, products, and services for such companies as Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Gumps to name just a few.

Each decade—from the 1900s through the 1990s—discusses the objects “whose colors tell a story about the emotions and aspirations of their creators, their users, and the societies they lived in,” says the authors. They also take into account that “the color of nearly every object changes as it ages.” It is for this reason a rainbow of colors through images is utilized to tell this historical color story.