Background

Faber Birren was born on September 11, 1900, Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Joseph P. Birren, a landscape painter, and Crescentia Lang Birren, a pianist.

Education

Faber attended the Art Institute of Chicago while in high school and the University of Chicago for two years where he studied color theory.

Career

Acknowledging his lack of artistic talent, Faber set up shop as a self-employed color consultant, first in Chicago, in 1929, then moving to New York. Steering clear of the garment trade, his office at 500 Fifth Avenue kept constant sales records on color trends in paints, wallpapers, textiles, plastics, home furnishings and the like. He eventually became widely recognized as the country’s foremost authority in the field, with headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and affiliated offices in Montreal. He pioneered in functional application of color to factories, offices, department stores, banks, schools, hospitals, and was the developer of the color practice manuals used by the United States Army, the United States Navy, and the United States Coast Guard.

His first book was Color in Vision (1928). He produced at least forty books on the subject over his lifetime. He wrote three novels: Terra: An Allegory (as “Gregor Lang”; 1953), The Unconsidered (1955), and Make Mine Love (1958). He was also a frequent contributer to trade and scientific magazines.

Birren’s very successful career allowed him to leave a permanent legacy of his work in color through the Faber Birren Collection of Books on Color. He donated a core collection of 226 books on historic color theory to the Art+Architecture Library at Yale University in 1971, as well as an endowment that allows for continued growth of the collection. In addition to books, the collection holds textile samples, photographs, paint chips, manuscripts, and more.

Achievements

• Faber Birren is best remembered as one of the most prominent scholars in the field of the theory of color, who invented his own Birren color theory.

Works

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  • Principles of Color

    (This is an essential basic book on color, written by the ...)

    1987
  • History of Color in Painting With New Principles of Color Expression

    (Faber Birren, the noted color authority, surveys the colo...)

    1980
  • Creative Color

    (The author demonstrates in Creative Color his exciting th...)

    1987
  • Color Perception in Art

    (The most vital recent information on the relationship of ...)

    1986
  • Color & Human Response

    (Aspects of Light and Color Bearing on the Reactions of Li...)

    1984
  • The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors and Their Applications to the Arts

    (This monumental masterwork by the renowned nineteenth cen...)

    1987
  • Selling Color to People

    (A Book on How to Sell Color in Commercial Products and Ad...)

  • Color Psychology and Color Therapy

    (American writer Faber Birren devoted his life to color an...)

    1950
  • Color Dimensions

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • The Textile Colorist

    (Discusses color theory as it applies to textile crafts.)

    1980
  • Modern Chromatics 1974
  • New Horizons in Color 1955
  • Color, form, and space 1961
  • Terra: An Allegory 1953
  • Make Mine Love 1959

Views

Birren firmly believed in the therapeutic effects of bright colors on the mentally troubled. He also stressed that taste in colors, although occurring in fashionable cycles, was highly personal, with no two people responding the same way.

Membership

Birren was a member of the Optical Society of America, the American Society for Photobiology, and the Inter-Society Color Council.

Connections

On April 25, 1934, Birren married Wanda LaVerne Martin.

Father:

Joseph P. Birren

Mother:

Crescentia Lang Birren

Spouse:

Wanda LaVerne Martin Birren

Daughter:

Zoe Kirby

Daughter:

Fay Koedel

References

• Contemporary Authors A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields
  2008