CHEVREUL, Des couleurs et de leurs applications , 1864

First edition of the rarest of Chevreul's publications on color.

Michel-Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889) is known to chemists for his research on fatty acids, saponification, and the discovery of stearin, but it is as a color theorist that his name will go down in history. Chevreul was appointed director of the Manufacture des Gobelins in 1824. Responsible for overseeing the production of dyes, he supported the work of dyers with his research on color perception. Thus, in 1839, he proposed a scientific approach to color complementarity and subsequently developed "color circles." A true "Pantone" color chart, a hundred years ahead of its time, Chevreul's color circles had the dual benefit of systematizing the production of hues (each with its own name) and making it easier to understand the concept of color complementarity. Thus, complementary colors are found on the same diameter of the color wheel, Red No. 2 corresponds to Green No. 2. "I believe I can affirm that it is possible to subject colors to a reasoned nomenclature, by relating them to types classified according to a simple method, accessible to the intelligence of all those who deal with colors" (extract from the preface). The standardization of color production was to interest first and foremost the industry then in full development, but it is undoubtedly in the Impressionist movement that Chevreul's theories found their finest accomplishment. Very early on, painters were inspired by Chevreul's work in their paintings, starting with Delacroix and then Monet. We will thus remember the fields of poppies dear to the Impressionists (Van Gogh, Monet, Pissaro...) where the red dots of the flowers burst out on complementary green backgrounds. The 27 spectacular plates were printed by René-Henri Digeon using chromochalcography, the process and difficulties of which are discussed in a paragraph in the book. Digeon appears to have presented a first edition of these plates at the 1855 World's Fair, for which he received a patent from the Empress. Several of the plates in our copy appear to be from this first edition and contain errors that have been corrected in other later copies that we have been able to consult.