Welcome to Color Theory!
Color and Humans
Red Ochre Burial
Lascaux, France
Indian Festival
Joseph Kosuth
Some Pioneers of Color Theory: Sir Isaac Newton
(1642-1727)
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, author
of Faust and important theories of color
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe was a German polymath (he did
many things well) who lived from 1749-1832. He wrote novels
and poems, studied plants, and, in 1810, wrote Theories of
Color. While some of his color theories did not hold up to
scientific testing, he was one of the first color theorists to look
at the psychology of color. In addition, his view that darkness,
as well as light, affected color also influenced numerous
Painters including J.M.W. Turner
Michel Eugene Chevereul (1786-1889)
French Chemist, Colorist,
supervisor of dye production carpet plant.
Book: The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors 1839
Chevreul was also influential in the world of art. After being
named director of the dye works at the Gobelins Manufactory
in Paris, he received many complaints about the dyes being
used there. In particular, the blacks appeared different when
used next to blues. He determined that the yarn's perceived
color was influenced by other surrounding yarns. This led to a
concept known as simultaneous contrast.
His writings subsequently had a great influence on advanced
art in Europe, particularly Impressionism, Post-Impressionism
and Orphism.
The Development of the Idea of
Simultaneous Contrast
• Simultaneous Contrast: the way in which
two different colors affect each other, how
one color can change how we perceive the
tone and hue of another when placed side
by side. The colors themselves don't
change, but we see them as altered.
Georges Seurat Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
On the left, an example of Orphism: Kathedrala by Frantisek Kupka (1912-3).
On the right,Post-Impressionism: Paul Serusier, The Talisman, 1888
Paul Gauguin
Chevreul is also linked to what is sometimes called Chevreul's illusion, the bright
edges that seem to exist between adjacent strips of identical colors having
different intensities. See Chevreul's The Laws of Contrast of Colour for more
information.[2]
Franz Marc
1880-1916
Katsushika Hokusai
1760-1849
Clarice Cliff
Art Deco (early 1930s) designer
Bauhaus 1919-1930
Johannes Itten
http://aqua-velvet.com/2012/12/itten-the-elements-of-color-1970/
Frederic Froebel
Itten and Froebel – Romantic Color
Theory
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Itten started the Bauhaus foundations course with its emphasis on unusual uses of common materials.
Students were presented with discarded materials (wire mesh, cardboard, newspapers, matchboxes,
phonograph needles and razor blades) and instructed to basteln; to improvise something. Other
assignments involved the study of materials. Wood, feathers, mosses, hides had to be looked at, touched
and drawn until they were known by heart and could be from memory. The idea was to transcend realistic
reproduction to achieve an interpretative design instead of a mere imitation.
It is said that this method was influenced by Friedrich Froebel's pedagogy of "education through play".
Itten represented the central person of the early Bauhaus years. He influenced the first era of it. The
foundations course established by him came out to be decisive for the teaching program of the school.
Itten developed a general theory of contrast, the main theme of which was the "clair / obscure contrast",
as the basis for this course. This was treated in various assignments: first in the form of checker-board
patterns, then in abstract and finally in realistic works. Classical pictures were also analysed with the same
aim in mind. By dividing it up into squares, the student was induced to work through the entire area of the
picture with awareness, and to make a new decision each time regarding the respective grey value.
Itten initiated mandatory form and color education for Bauhaus students. He taught there until 1923,
essentially on the concept of creation, focusing on form and color and in the process developing his
theories on color and the color circle. In March 1923, Itten left the Bauhaus because Gropius no longer
approved of his teaching methods - in particular of the preparatory meditation exercises and the FarEastern mysticism which this presupposed. Itten's departure was the first symptom of a general reorientation of the school. The "romantic" or as others have called it, the universalistic era, came to an end.
Itten class
http://www.worqx.com/color/itten.htm
Joseph Albers
( w/ Annie Albers )
1888-1976
Albers was a student of Itten.
He later taught at The Bauhaus and
at Black Mountain College.
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Vocabulary
• Hue Name of a particular color zone, defined by different
wavelengths of light. Examples of hue: blue, green,
yellow and red. Hue can encompass a range of colors
within the wavelength area.
• Tip: think of hue as a color zone rather than a color. Hue
is bigger than individual color
• In painting, hue is often used in conjunction with terms
such as: tint, shade and tone.
• A tint is created when a color is mixed with white.
• A shade is created when a color is mixed with black.
• A tone is created when a color is mixed with gray.
New
Three
Vocabulary
easily
confused
Value
Saturation
Chroma
properties:
Value
Value is what we know
as the degree of Light or
Dark. Value is present in
black and white but also
in color.
Buttercup yellow has a
lower (whiter) value
than navy blue.
This value scale may
help you with your
achromatic and
monochromatic
reproductions.
Value and Hue
Saturation
Saturation is not really a matter of
light and dark, but rather how pale
or strong a color appears. The term
refers to the dominance of pure
hue.The saturation of a color is not
constant, but it varies depending
on the surroundings and what light
the color is seen in. Highly
saturated colors appear as pure
hues. Colors with low saturation
appear washed out or weak.
Great painting exercises. Wait for a
sunny day and paint a brightly
colored ball in the early morning,
noontime and evening. Or paint
the color of a wall lit by
candlelight, lit with a normal light
fixture and then with the light
fixture and full sun (open the
curtains). Observe different
degrees of saturation.
Chroma
• **Chroma is the Greek word for color.
Sometimes it is used to mean the same thing as
color, but it is also used to describe the
combination of saturation and brightness. A
highly saturated lemon yellow is much brighter
than a highly saturated blue-green. You can say
that the yellow has higher chroma than the bluegreen. Many digital applications allow you to
adjust both brightness and saturation, creating
varieties of chroma.
Anish Kapoor
More Kapoor
Christina West
Yves Klein
Yves Klein
Achromatic Reproduction
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Achromatic Reproduction of a masterwork
Why?
What is the power of a limited palette?
What do you gain? Lose? Learn
How does color translate into value?
An appreciation of black and white: Citizen Kane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r0b_XeRkG4
More Appreciation: Gerard Richter
RAF Series – Baader Meinhoff
In your paintings there is pity for the Baader-Meinhof.
There is sorrow, but I hope one can see that it is sorrow for the people who died so
young and so crazy, for nothing. I have respect for them, but also for their wishes, or for
the power of their wishes. Because they tried to change the stupid things in the world.
SOURCE
Interview with Gregorio Magnani, 1989
The ones that weren't paintable were the ones I did paint. The dead. To start with, I
wanted more to paint the whole business, the world as it then was, the living reality – I
was thinking in terms of something big and comprehensive. But then it all evolved quite
differently, in the direction of death. And that's really not all that unpaintable. Far from
it, in fact. Death and suffering have always been an artistic theme. Basically, it's the
theme. We've eventually managed to wean ourselves away from it, with our nice, tidy
lifestyle.
SOURCE
Conversation with Jan Thorn-Prikker concerning the 18 October 1977 cycle, 1989
Your Monochromatic
Masterpiece
2. Convert the reproduction into
black and white in Photoshop to get
a preliminary idea. Print out the black and
white image at the same scale as you will
be painting. Now mix a gray scale in paint,
trying to find all the values.
3. Sketch out the composition on Bristol
Board, making sure to stay to the proper
scale. Now paint, using the gray scale. Try
and mimic the brush strokes or style of
applying paint. Don’t just look at the
Photoshop copy, keep looking at the
painting.
1. Start by finding a GOOD
reproduction of a masterpiece.
Add “museum” or “gallery”
to your search and try to collect
images only from these legit sites. Talk
to me about artists that work well for
the assignment .
Monochromatic Compositions
Guy Goodwin’s Tracers—Side Order 1999
Resin, polyurthane, ink on polycarbonate, 51 x 54 x 4”
Materials: dimensions variable, 100 fluorescent lights, filters, clothespins.
This work re-creates the effect of a passing cloud in Emily Dickinson’s back yard in Amherst,
Massachusetts, based on an August afternoon. The bank of three types of fluorescents
generates a simulation of the daylight, and the hanging filters of the “cloud” shift the color and
intensity of the sunlight to replicate the shadow cast by a cloud.
Monochromatic Scale
Adding Tints and Shades to an individual HUE
mono = one
chroma = color
Study For A Groovy Unnamable Color, (YellowishOrange), 1997 22”x30” Spencer Finch
Preparing for Your Monochromatic Collage or Painting.
• 1. You have your masterwork chosen. You will paint the same masterwork
as you chose for your achromatic reproduction. Now choose your
medium: paint or collage.
• 2. If you are painting, choose a color and mix shades and tints to create a
monochromatic value scale.
• 3. If you want to try a collage, choose a hue from your Color-Aid papers.
Separate the chosen hue and all its tints and shades from the other
papers.
• 4. Whether painting or collaging, choose a hue which will create an
evocative mood when it is used to reproduce your masterwork as a
monochrome.
• 5. Print your masterwork at chosen scale (anywhere from 8.5x11” to
6.5x9”) in black and white (Photoshop). If you are making a Color-Aid
collage, choose a scale that will keep you from running out of paper. If you
run out of a tint, shade or hue, see me or trade with a fellow student.
Decide what shapes will make up the collage. All squares? Circles? (hole
punch), triangles? Different shapes?