Faber Birren (11 September 1900 – 30 December 1988) was an American writer and consultant on color and
color theory.
Life
Faber Birren was born in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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on 11 September 1900, the son of Joseph P. Birren, a landscape painter, and Crescentia (Lang) Birren, a pianist. He attended the
Art Institute of Chicago while in high school and the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
for two years where he studied color theory.
He began publishing articles on color in 1924; his first book, ''Color in Vision'' was published in 1928.
In 1934 he established his own company and worked as an industrial color consultant, advising clients on the psychological effects of color on safety, employee morale, productivity and sales.
His recommendations included changing wall and interior colors to reduce visual fatigue, and using bright colors on machinery to reduce accidents.
,
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in ...
, and
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
were among his clients as well as the military.
He also wrote extensively on color, writing forty books and over 250 articles on the subject.
Birren died in
Stamford, Connecticut on 30 December 1988 after a stroke.
Personal
Birren married Wanda Martin and they had two daughters, Zoe and Fay.
Bibliography
* ''Color in Vision'' (1928).
* ''The Printers Art of Color'' (1934). Chicago: Crimson Press.
* ''Color Psychology and Color Therapy (1950). New York: McGraw-Hill.
* ''New Horizons in Color'' (1955). New York: Reinhold Pub. Corp.
* ''Creative Color'' (1961). Van Nostrand Reinhold.
* ''Color in Your World'' (1962). New York: Crowell-Collier Publishing Co.
* ''Color: A Survey in Words and Pictures, from Ancient Mysticism to Modern Science (1963). New York: University Books.
* ''History of Color in Painting'' (1965). New York: Reinhold Pub. Corp. lccn 64-22424
* ''Principles of Color: A Review of Past Traditions and Modern Theories of Color Harmony'' (1969). Van Nostrand Reinhold.
* ''Ostwald: The Color Primer'' (1969). Van Nostrand Reinhold.
* ''Color and Human Response'' (1978). Van Nostrand Reinhold.
* ''The Textile Colorist'' (1980). Van Nostrand Reinhold.
* ''Light, Color, and Environment'' (1982) Van Nostrand Reinhold.
* ''Color Perception in Art'' (1986). Schiffer Publishing.
* ''The Symbolism of Color'' (1988). Citadel.
* ''Light, Color, and Environment'' (1988). Schiffer Publishing.
* ''The Elements of Color: A Treatise on the Color System of Johannes Itten Based on His Book The Art of Color'' (1970).
Johannes Itten
Johannes Itten (11 November 1888 – 25 March 1967) was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus (''Staatliches Bauhaus'') school. Together with German-American painter Lyonel Feining ...
, and Faber Birren. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
* ''The Principles of Light and Color: The Classic Study of the Healing Power of Color'' (1967) by Edwin D. Babbitt; edited and annotated by Faber Birren. New York; University Books.
Legacy
In 1971, Birren donated nearly two hundred books about color, many of them rare, to the Yale University Library. He also established an endowment for color research.
References
External links
Faber Birren color-circle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birren, Faber
1900 births
1988 deaths
People from Chicago
Color scientists
American consultants
American writers
Writers from Chicago