Print in Color, Color in Print

November 27, 2017 through March 5, 2018

This exhibit featured printing in color over nearly five centuries, from early printed books with red and black title pages to extravagant 19th-century specimens of chromolithography, from rival color systems to categorizations of colors in nature. In particular, the exhibit allowed us to highlight the chemistry of color and the material culture of color samples in printed books – ranging from textile scraps to color scales – and thereby explore the promise (however elusive) and value of uniform color reproduction. A checklist suggests the breadth of items we displayed.

The exhibit was designed to complement the Burdick-Vary symposium on “Color: Pixels, Palettes, and Perception” organized at UW–Madison by Theresa Kelley, English (IRH Senior Fellow); Karen Schloss, Psychology; Kevin Eliceiri, LOCI, Morgridge, Biomedical Engineering.