It has been so cold the past few mornings, breath frosts hair and the collar on coats when early morning walks are taken. The air is clear and still. Snow crunches under the weight of boots. The color of the sky, cloudless, asks you to stop and stare at its breathtaking beauty. Even though you've seen it before, you ask yourself if there has ever been a blue so brilliant.
For now, as the snows of winter cover nearly everything, the only natural blue is that found in the waters of the surrounding lakes, not frozen, and the sky. Soon as birds return from their annual migrations, blue will filt and glide from place to place. As flowers push from the earth and buds blossom, even more blue will appear. Blue: A History Of The Color As Deep As The Sea And As Wide As The Sky (Alfred A. Knopf, February 15, 2022) written by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond with illustrations by Daniel Minter is a gorgeous portrait of the history of this color. You will be transported through time and place.
The color blue is all around us.
Have you ever wondered where it comes from?
It's in the sky, but you can't touch it.
It's in the sea, but when you cup it,
it disappears.
While attempts were made the color blue, sometimes captured, faded. Then, it was found in the strangest place. Did you know that sometime around 4500 BC rocks, blue rocks, were mined deep underground in what is today Afghanistan? They were used in jewelry until people, as time passed, found other ways to use them, eye makeup and as a paint on multiple surfaces.
It was expensive to make, so others sought another source of the color blue. It was found near water around the world in snails. Yes, snails! Each dyer extracted the blue in their own manner, but it was labor intensive. Only a few drops came from each snail. This rarity of being able to produce the color blue elevated it to sacredness in many cultures.
Later, it was discovered blue could be made from plants
called Indigofera.
Around the world, as with the snails, dyers used their own techniques to produce the blue they desired. This blue was highly valued and much easier to develop. The plant was even used like money. It's worth in the world market caused greedy growers and merchants to abuse people for its growth.
Despite finding blue in rock, snails, and indigo, scientists were seeking a way to make it chemically. It took Adolf von Baeyer forty years to accomplish this task. It earned him a Nobel Prize. Now, regardless of your economic status you could afford blue.
In the final pages of this narrative, readers come to understand blue as more than a color. It is a feeling. It contributed to a music known as
the blues.
It represents the unexpected. It is shown as first place in prizes. It is hope.
From beginning to end, author Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond brings readers into the fascinating history of the color blue. She explores all facets of the color through her meticulous research, weaving the production of the color, associated myths, legends, and religious symbolism, the use of poor and enslaved people for its growth, and its implications in tradition, culture, and language together to fashion a captivating and powerful whole. Her inclusion of dates, places, and descriptive explanations adds to the appeal of this narrative. Her technique of using the same words from the opening phrases in the closing phrases is marvelous. Here are two entwined passages on a single page.
Perhaps because blue was
the color of the heavens,
yet so rare and hard to create
on earth,
people around the world
considered the color holy.
In an old Liberian folktale,
blue is explained as a gift
that connects God to humans.
When you think of blue, you might consider it a cool color. But, in looking at the open and matching dust jacket and book case, you are drawn to the warmth emanating from the image. The play of light and shadow on the dyer's face is wonderful. The pattern in her clothing reflects her culture. Surrounding her is the sky and beneath her are ripples of water. Directly behind her are iris with their glowing centers. Iris are mentioned as a flower used in making blue dye.
On the other side of the spine, the sky, ripples of water, and iris continue. Above them the words, in white, read:
EMBARK ON A VIBRANT JOURNEY
THROUGH THIS HISTORY OF
THE COLOR BLUE.
On the opening and closing endpapers, on the left side is a silhouette of a figure in a rich, dark blue, hand outstretched. They are reaching toward two varied patterns of fabric in hues of blue and white. With a page turn, the verso and dedication pages are on the left. On the title page, between the text, is a shell with a single drop of blue falling from the interior.
These luminescent illustrations by Daniel Minter were rendered
using layers of acrylic wash on heavy watercolor paper.
You find yourself gasping in appreciation with each page turn. These double-page images present themselves as a single, two-page picture or two or more separate images in one illustration. Sometimes, elements from one will blend into another.
In this artwork, perspectives will be mixed. You might see something as if you are far away and next to it, we are brought directly into a scene. We move from observer to participant. The intricate, at times delicate, details ask you to pause and wonder about the people in each setting. Like the author's words in the opening and closing phrases, Daniel Minter incorporates portions of the opening elements in his closing picture.
One of my many favorite illustrations has a background wash of many shades of blue with hints of purple and pink. (This picture is for the discussion about iris petals being used as a blue dye.) On the left are two exquisite fairy-like people. They look like the flowers have come to life as people. Around them are petals. Moving to the right of them and across the gutter are a group of iris. Lower, on the left side of the gutter, white lines outline and overlap shapes of iris. These move across the gutter and to the right. On the right side two hands and portions of arms come from the blue along the bottom and side. In one hand, a shallow bowl holds the petals being crushed. In the other hand, a wide wooden pestle is gripped as it pushes into the petals. On that hand are a stack of bracelets around the wrist.
Readers will be enthralled with the information and its presentation in Blue: A History Of The Color As Deep As The Sea And As Wide As The Sky written by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond with artwork by Daniel Minter. At the close of the book is an author's note, a section titled Want To Explore More, A Few Blue Facts, and a Selected Bibliography. I believe you will want to have a copy of this outstanding title in both your personal and professional collections.
To discover more about Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Daniel Minter and their other work, please access their websites by following the link attached to their names. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Daniel Minter has accounts on Instagram and Twitter. At the publisher's website, you can view interior illustrations.
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