In the Summer of 1998, Professor Emeritus of the UMass Art History Department J. Leonard Benson offered the UMass Amherst Libraries publication rights to a set of two scholarly works, entitled Greek Color Theory and the Four Elements and Greek Sculpture and the Four Elements. In accepting these monograph-length manuscripts, the UMass Amherst Libraries recognized an opportunity to explore the new role of electronic publisher that other research libraries, such as the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Virginia, have entered.
The two texts, published in May 2000 by the Digital Initiatives Team, added a new and valuable resource to the Libraries' collections while allowing the Digital Initiatives Team to investigate new technologies that may well become central to information organization, access and exchange in a Web environment.
In 2007, the works were converted to PDF format and added to ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst.
Chapters from 2000
Appendix A: Observations on the technique of paintings and mosaics, J.L. Benson
Appendix B: Color technicalities, J.L. Benson
Appendix C: The four elements and the origins of fixed colors, J.L. Benson
Chapter 1: How may we understand four elements theory today, J.L. Benson
Chapter 2: Greek color theory, J.L. Benson
Chapter 3: Aspects of ancient and modern understanding of color, J.L. Benson
Chapter 4: Greek artists and their colors (apart from ceramics), J.L. Benson
Chapter 5: Observations on the coloration of sculpture, J.L. Benson
Cover and front matter, J.L. Benson
Figures, J.L. Benson
Greek Color Theory and the Four Elements [full text, not including figures], J.L. Benson
Introduction: A cosmological interpretation of Greek color theory, J.L. Benson
Notes, J.L. Benson
Preface, J.L. Benson
Select bibliography, J.L. Benson