The idea for this book came to me during the first year of my PhD program in history at the University of Southern California. I want to thank my professors at USC for providing me with an intellectually stimulating environment where pursuing research on topics that fall betwixt and between disciplines was not just vaguely encouraged but the usual modus operandi.
Among my professors at USC, I am most grateful to Vanessa R. Schwartz, whose spectacular mentorship made this book possible. From teaching me how to navigate French archives and apply for grants to, more generally, being the most engaged and exacting intellectual interlocutor, Vanessa has helped me with this project in more ways than I can count. It is my greatest pleasure, and honor, to have the opportunity to thank her here.
Elinor Accampo, Debora Silverman, and Nancy Troy also provided invaluable feedback on earlier versions of the manuscript. Their comments helped me refine my arguments and continue to inspire how I conceptualize the study of modern visual culture. I am thankful to Jennifer Tucker, Timothy Barringer, Hollis Clayson, and especially Jim Rubin for taking interest in my research and providing much-needed encouragement at the final stages of the project. I am very grateful as well to the anonymous reviewer for the curiosity and care with which they read my manuscript and their many helpful comments. I have also benefited from conversations with a wonderfully interdisciplinary group of scholars who share my interest in the cultural history of color; for inviting me to present my research and/or reminding me why it matters, special thanks go to Regina Blaszczyk, Nicholas Gaskill, Carolyne Kane, Michael Rossi, and Sally Stein.
Funding from various institutions helped make the research for and writing of this book possible. These include USC, the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, not to mention Smith College, which provided me with both research funds and teaching release time to complete writing of the manuscript. I am also grateful to my colleagues in the department of Art at Smith College for welcoming me into their artistic and art-historical midst. Teaching the history of art, architecture, and visual culture alongside them simultaneously expanded and sharpened my thinking about my materials and the methods I use to explore them.
Chapters 2 and 4 include revised portions of articles that first appeared in Modernism/Modernity 19, no. 4 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012) and Representations 120, no. 1 (University of California Press, 2012).
I am indebted to the staff of multiple museums, archives, and libraries. First and foremost, I want to thank Etienne and Jean-Jacques Barès, Evelyne Castera, and her late brother, Roland Encoyand, for giving me access to the company archives of the Etienne Lacroix Group (formerly Lacroix-Ruggieri), photographing images from the collection, and granting me the right to reproduce them here. The staff at the Archives municipales de Mulhouse, Chambre de commerce de Lyon, Mobilier National, Musée de l’impression sur étoffes, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, and Société française de photographie regularly went out of their way to make their collections available to me. Finally, I would also like to express my ongoing gratitude to the staff of the Smith College library, who make doing research on nineteenth-century Paris in a small town in western Massachusetts remarkably easy.
Eleanor Goodman, executive editor at Pennsylvania State University Press, and Jonathan P. Eburne, editor of the Refiguring Modernism series, made publishing my first book a rewarding experience from start to finish. Generous funding for images and permissions came from the Art History Publication Initiative and the College Art Association. Hannah Herbert, Julie Van Pelt, Courtney Traub, Matthew Williams, and Jo Ellen Ackerman provided expert logistical, copyediting, and design assistance. Their time, effort, and consummate professionalism made the almost alchemical process of transforming the manuscript into a book clear and straightforward.
I am fortunate to have many smart friends with whom to talk through the nitty-gritty of Impressionist painting techniques or work silently side by side as need may be. Special thanks go to Brian Jacobson, Catherine Clark, Trea’Andrea Russworm, Mat Savelli, Rebecca Scales, and Will Slauter. Without the love and support of Bryce Celotto, Aimee Francæs, Jesse Hassinger, and Beck Bailey, the world would be a lot less colorful.
Margaux Cowden has read and commented on multiple drafts of each chapter. We became friends close to a decade ago. And, over the years, she has provided me with more editorial assistance, emotional support, and timely distractions from work than I can ever repay.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Rose and Paul Kalba, for teaching me the value of hard work; and Fran Hutchins, for helping me reach my goals and come up with new ones. For her patience, love, and unwavering faith in me, I dedicate this book to her.