The Visual Nature of Color
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This document is out of print and the writing is beyond copyright, or it is being reproduced with the permission of the authors and publishers. This version reflects the general appearance of the original, though modern computer-based type has been substituted with the consequence that within-page spacing is slightly altered. Pagination has been respected so that citations will remain correct. This electronic version of the work is copyrighted. You may reproduce and distribute it, but only for free and only with this notice intact. Related material is available at our web site. ©Fred Collopy 2004. THE VISUAL NATURE OF COLOR Into the same rivers we step and we do not step; we are and we are not. Heraclitus THE VISUAL NATURE OF COLOR PATRICIA SLOANE DESIGN PRESS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Research for this book was partially supported by a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenktelm Memorial Foundation, and the New York City Technical College of The City University of New York. For their suggestions and encouragement, I would like to thank Robert Motherwell, Rudolph Arnhelm, David Ecker, Jerome Hausman, Robert Ginsberg, Pamela Dohner, Linda Venator, Kurt Wildermuth, and Nancy Green. First Edition, First Printing Copyright © 1989 by Patricia Sloane Printed in the United States of America Designed by Gilda Hannah Reproduction or publication of the content in any manner, without express permission of the publisher, is prohibited. The publisher takes no responsibility for the use of any of the materials or methods described in this book, or for the products thereof. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Sloane, Patricia. The visual nature of color. Bibliography: p. Includes Index. 1. Color in art. 2. Color (Philosophy) 3. Color- Psychological aspects. I. Title. ND1488.555 1989 701'.8 88-33624 ISBN 0-8036-5500-X Design Press offers posters and The Cropper, a device for cropping artwork, for sale. For information, contact Mailorder Department. Design Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, fund raisers, or premiums. For details contact Special Sales Manager. Questions regarding the content of the book should be addressed to: DESIGN PRESS Division of TAB BOOKS Inc. 10 East 21st Street New York, NY 10010 Contents Preface vii PART ONE: COLOR AND LANGUAGE 1. Learning to Use Color Names 3 2. Color as a Continuum 11 3. Understanding Color Names 17 4. The Limits of Language and the Logic of Color 26 5. Knowing How to Identify Color 3 7 PART TWO: COLOR AND LIGHT 6. Light of Day, Dark of Night 47 7. Light and Dark in Perspective 55 8. Newton 64 9. The Cause of Color and Light 73 10. Red-Violet, Blue, Brown, and Optical Mixture 79 11. Achromatic Colors and Mirrors 88 12. Color Causes Light 97 13. Light as Symbol and Visual Metaphor I 106 14. Light as Symbol and Visual Metaphor II 114 15. Nonvisual Seeing and the Metameric Grays 126 PART THREE: COLOR AND FORM 16. The Two-Dimensional World 135 17. Delusion and the Geometry of Visual Space 143 18. Extension in the Visual Field 157 19. Complernentarity in the Visual Field 167 20. Color Fields and Colored Forms 175 PART FOUR: COLOR AND CULTURE 21. Hue, Color, and Culture 187 22. Prime Minister Gladstone and the Blues 193 23. Bassa, Shona, and Ibo 201 24. Tristimulus Theory and Metamerism 213 25. Color and Form in Art 224 26. Subjectivity and the Number of Colors 230 27. Object or Attribute 237 28. Conveying Information about Color 251 29. On Ambiguity in Color Names 262 PART FIVE: COLOR THEORY 30. Systematizers and Systems 2 71 31. The Logarithmic Gray Scale 281 32. Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Colors 293 33. Complementary Colors 301 34. Color Mixture 313 35. Additive/Subtractive Theory 323 Notes 329 Bibliography 332 Preface Color and vision are inseparable. What we see We learn from the biological sciences that is composed of colors, though the question the colors of living organisms are functional, "what is color?" yields inconclusive answers. that life on earth would be different if the The study of color is not an academic dis- chlorophyll of plants was not green, if human cipline in its own right, and many disciplines blood was not red. Astronomy and cosmology, claim pieces of it. Physics owns the question of growing ever closer to particle physics, consider how color is caused, leaving to philosophy and what the colors of the stars and sky suggest psychology inquiry about whether color is about the origin of the universe and about the chimerical and how we interpret what we see. origin of colors. The relationship between color and form is The social sciences offer theories about color touched on in the philosophy of design. names, about the relationship between the Geometry tells us what forms are and hints at experiences of seeing color and the words used what color is not. to describe what we see. Clues to the early The issue of beauty or harmoniousness in history of human ideas about color are also color combinations, and whether the terms revealed by the etymology of key color terms, can be defined, are addressed in the writings the history of what these terms have meant and of artists and the literature of art education. their cognates-words from which they may have These questions also involve disciplines as been derived. diverse as aesthetics and colorimetry. Finding the means to combine the theories of these diverse disciplines is less the task of fragments, can the fragments be fit together to Sisyphus than that of Isis, collecting the make sense? One conception of truth relies on fragments of the corpse of Osiris so that they the metaphor of the montage, derived from could be reassembled and brought back to life. cinematography. By this reasoning, each Who could be qualified for such a task? discipline regards color from its own point of Nobodyor anybody, because we all know what view, beginning from its own premises. Truth is we see. approached by imagining the several points of Those who have contributed to our view laid atop one another like a montage; the understanding of color or wrote at length about inquirer looks into the heart of the matter it represent these different disciplines. Robert through the layers of the montage. Thus, color is Boyle and Sir Isaac Newton regarded in one sense what the physicist tells us. In other themselves as natural philosophers, though we senses, it is what artists, philosophers, call them physicists. Johann Wolfgang von psychologists, and workers in other areas say. In Goethe was a poet. Thomas Young was a total, color is to be understood as an aggregate physician. M.E. Chevreul was a chemist who of all the points of view about it. served for a time as the director of a dye I find this manner of reasoning more factory. William Ewart Gladstone was Queen confusing than helpful. Color is a singular Victoria's prime minister. Albert H. Munsell phenomenon. If it is to be chopped into pieces was an art educator. Wilhelm Ostwald, who called points of view, the points of view must be shared Munsell's hope of simplifying the use of consistent within themselves and consistent with color for industry, began a second career as a one another. The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle color theorist after retiring as a professor of must fit together. We cannot assume that all physical chemistry. points of view are equal or that they all meet the Those interested in color should read tests of logical consistency and consistency with Vincent van Gogh's letters, Eugene Delacroix's what we see. journals, and the many statements and Color is a visual phenomenon. As a society, manifestos by painters that point a way to new we need to sharpen our skills at visual thinking, understandings. The literature of color, or of at reasoning about what we see in an intelligent popular beliefs about color, also includes the manner. Artists are trained to think in visual writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Dante, T.S. terms, but the skill is too important to be taught Eliot, and virtually any author who often refers just to artists. In this post-humanist age, we to color or shares ideas about colors in the need to become seriously interested in course of discussing another subject. understanding what we see, an endeavor more Nobody looks at color with what used to be noble, necessary, and interesting than called the innocent eye. To look without understanding who we are. preconceptions is impossible. Color is In this book I attempt to make sense of something we see, but we adjust our thoughts familiar theories about color. I originally meant about it to conform to traditional and very to show only that discarding worn, meaningless, ancient beliefs passed from one generation to or literary ideas could lay a foundation for the next. We recognize these popular ideas newer, better ideas that were genuinely visual. I about color, woven into the reasoning of the think I have gone farther and suggested that theorists as into our own. But familiar ideas are visual thinking is a necessity, not a nicety. not necessarily good ideas, about to bear PART ONE Color and Language If one says "Red" (the name of a color) and there are 50 people listening, it can be expected that there will be 50 reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different. Josef Albers, Interaction of Color CHAPTER 1 Learning to Use Color Names I know what colour is because I know red when I see it; I know what red is .