colouristcoloristn.
/ˈkʌl(ə)rɪst/, U.S. /ˈkələrəst/ 1. A painter considered in terms of his or her use of colour; spec. a painter skilled in the use of colour. Frequently with modifying adjective.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > art of colouring > [noun] > colourer or colourist
colourer1612
colourist1685
colourman1764
tinter1823
polychromist1842
tetrachromist1842
tonist1883
tintist1890
1685 W. Aglionby Painting Illustr. iii. 124 The Carraches seem to have had all the Qualities together, being Excellent Designers, Admirable Colourists.
1695 J. Dryden tr. R. de Piles in tr. C. A. Du Fresnoy De Arte Graphica 138 Titian..and the rest of the good Colourists.
1751 W. Warburton in Wks. of Alexander Pope IV. 169 This excellent Colourist [sc. Lely]..was an excessive Manierest.
1794 J. Farington Diary 4 Feb. (1978) I. 155 He does not know how incapable the Colourists are of executing anything difficult.
1836 Brit. & Foreign Rev. 3 154 The experimental colourist of the eighteenth century, Sir Joshua Reynolds, has already lost so much of his tone and brightness.
1859 T. J. Gullick & J. Timbs Painting 220 The English school..is essentially a colourist school.
1874 Brit. Q. Rev. Oct. 517 He was no colourist in the sense in which Veronese and Gainsborough were colourists, but he could within certain limits paint the hues of nature.
1931 J. H. Brown Water-colour Guidance x. 192 Present-day colour work..has tended to divert the colourist's attention from the tonal aspect of painting.
1999 S. L. Kasfir Contemp. Afr. Art v. 149 (caption) Adams, a brilliant colourist, set a high standard for..students in his painting classes.
2. A writer skilled in the use of vivid and evocative language.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > embellishment > one who uses ornate language
flourishera1387
colourist1759
1759 A. Murphy Orphan of China (ed. 2) 96 Two characters, to which a colourist, like you [sc. Voltaire], would have given the most beautiful touches of the pencil.
1782 J. Warton Ess. on Pope (new ed.) II. viii. 96 Spenser..was as warm a colourist.
1845 G. L. Craik Sketches Hist. Lit. &. Learning Eng. III. 16 Sackville..is almost as great an inventor as he is a colourist.
1885 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 10 The..wealth of imagery that Carlyle carried about with him into every detail of the supper-table or the wardrobe,..and his abundant power as a colorist, have contrived to present a series of pictures that..may give the effect of a caricature.
1903 E. Gosse Eng. Lit. (1906) III. iv. 271 It was not to be expected that shy and diffident poets..should flash out into brilliant colourists and high-priests of pantheism.
2002 E. V. Moran People's Hist. Eng. & Amer. Lit. 193 [Wallace] Stevens remained a colorist throughout a great career always using his grand imagination to press back against the pressure of reality.
3. A person who tints or dyes something.
a. A person who dyes textiles.
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the world > matter > colour > colouring > dyeing > [noun] > dyer > type of
stainera1425
staineressc1430
silk-dyer?1518
colourist1772
shader?1881
wincer?1881
1772 tr. Ess. Spirit Legislation i. 68 Some encouragement on the part of the legislature, would at once naturalize a plant, absolutely necessary in all countries, where there are colourists and linen printers.
1885 (title) The Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists.
1904 Textile World Rec. Sept. 89/1 What is of great interest to the dyer and colorist in this department are the many differently colored wools all dyed with the natural dyestuffs of the Highlands.
1917 Color Trade Jrnl. Sept. 23/1 To have good harmony of colors means more to the textile colorist than to the artist.
1992 W. H. Brock Fontana Hist. Chem. viii. 307 A long and well established natural dyeing and textile printing industry in which professional colourists, as opposed to academic chemists, played key roles.
b. A hairdresser who specializes in dyeing and tinting.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > barbers and hairdressers > [noun] > who colours
colourist1891
tinter1921
1891 Chicago Tribune 7 June 36/7 A hair colorist in the New York World: I color hair for a living.
1951 Life 26 Nov. 144/2 (advt.) Professional colorists use more Roux than all other colorings combined.
1989 N.Y. Woman Oct. 48/3 Jet, a former colorist there, confides, ‘During a consultation about coloring their hair, men'll say, Do you think you could also put some on my chest?’
2007 Independent 18 June (Extra section) 10/1 They say that there are secrets between a girl and her hairdresser that must never be revealed. The following pearl of wisdom that fell from the lips of my colourist last week is, however, entirely appropriate for sharing.
c. A person who tints black and white film with colour; (also) a person who adds colour to the cels of an animated film (see cel n.).
ΚΠ
1916 Photogr. Jrnl. Amer. May 225/1 An expert background worker and colorist will be kept busy working in backgrounds on negatives and prints.
1939 Pop. Mech. Mar. 343/1 It falls to the colorist to simplify and diminish in intensity the small distracting areas of color not important to the story or to the characters [in a film].
1959 J. Halas & R. Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 223 The head of the colouring department..is responsible for handing out the traced cells to the individual colourists.
1991 Amer. Cinematographer Sept. 15/2 (advt.) Filters are not necessary. I find the colorist only needs to set the blacks and the rest falls into place.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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