Emily Noyes Vanderpoel (1842-1939) was an artist, collector, scholar, and historian working at the dawn of the 20th century. Her first and most prominent work, Color Problems: A Practical Manual for the Lay Student of Color, provides a comprehensive overview of the main ideas of color theory at the time, as well as her wildly original approaches to color analysis and interaction. Through a 21st century lens, she appears to stumble upon midcentury design and minimalism decades prior to those movements.
Lined with 116 remarkable color illustrations, this abstract and poetic book is being properly reprinted for the first time since 1903.
Emily was a remarkable and tenacious academic mind. Alongside a rigorously studied examination of the principals of color theory, her gridded Color Analysis works predict abstract art movements, while her quiet experiential Color Note watercolors denote a particular sensitivity to time and place.
Emily's principal motivation was to make color theory available to every person, not just artists or people in graphic trades. Her idea that homemakers and everyday people could benefit from a better understanding of color was a radical democratization of a perviously niche discipline.
*This printing of Color Problems includes a thoughtful selection of paper stocks. Like the original, the text portion of our edition is printed on a soft uncoated natural stock. The 116 color plates are printed on a bright white coated paper stock to best display colors. The interiors will be offset printed with close attention to color reproduction. The book includes sewn signatures for long term durability and lay flat binding for ease of viewing. The cover is foil stamped and includes a vibrant slipover belly-band. We have taken careful measures to ensure all aspects of the production are of the highest quality.
The Deluxe Version with Inserts includes several color filters that provide interaction with the material and help illustrate some of Vanderpoel's most ingenious ideas about the perception of color. These filters are true to the ones included with the original printing.*
