Empedocles

Empedocles

• Empedocles

• (492-431 BC)
• Through observation determined color is perceived, not the property of the object.

• Democritus

• (?460-431 BC)
• First atomic theory: color was the result of atomic arrangements.

• Plato

• (428-347 BC)
• Worked with perception of reality. If color changes based on the viewer, how can we determine the true color of objects.

(384-322 BC)

• (384-322 BC)

• De Coloribus ( the first know book about color)
• Composition and relationship of color.
• Derived from the blending of sunlight, fire, light, and lack of light.
• Hue identification- white, black, red, yellow, brown, violet, green, blue.
• Proposed the mixing of white and black with these hues resulted in all colors.

Mathematician, scientist, artist (1452-1519)

• Mathematician, scientist, artist (1452-1519)

• Treatise on Painting, 1651
• Simple (primary) colors: white, yellow,
• green, blue, red, black.
• Ranked color: white- light, yellow- fire, green- water, blue-air, red- fire, black- total darkness.
• 1st to…
• Create system of primary colors arranged in order
• Direct contraries intensify each other (complements)
• Certain responses take place when colors are placed next to each other (simultaneous contrast)

1643-1727

• 1643-1727

• Opticks, 1704

• Interested in the physics of

• color, not the perception.

• Newton discovered measurable,

• mathematical patterns in the phenomenon of color.

• He found white light to be a mixture of infinitely varied colored rays (manifest in the rainbow and the spectrum)

Based on additive color

• Based on additive color

• Red
• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Blue
• Indigo
• Violet

Theory of Colors, 1810.

• Theory of Colors, 1810.

• First modern thinker to record the

• function of the eye rather than the

• properties of light.

• Opponent to Newton’s physics of light.

• Explored every aspect of color:

• Complementary color
• Simultaneous contrast
• Successive contrast
• Effects of cast light
• Proportional color

Philip Otto Runge

• Philip Otto Runge

• German painter: 1st 3D color model

• J.C. Maxwell

• Scottish physicist: concepts of additive color. Extensive work with spinning discs and pioneer to modern-day photography

• Michel Eugene Chevreul

• French chemist: (dye master) The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors
• All hues could be obtained from mixing primaries (red, yellow, blue)
• Established the laws of: simultaneous contrast, successive contrast, and optical mixing.

• Ewald Hering

• German physiologist and psychologist
• Theories of color perception
• Psychological Primaries: the primary colors of vision.
• Red, yellow, blue, green

American-born color theorist: 1858-1918

• American-born color theorist: 1858-1918

• Color Notation, 1905

• Color describe by three variables

• Hue, value, chroma

• Expanded the primary hues- principle colors

• Red, yellow, blue, green, purple

• Adopted by the US Bureau of Standards as the acceptable language of color

• Created a system for color standardization in art

German Chemist, 1853-1932

• German Chemist, 1853-1932

• Nobel prize winner

• Color model based on geometric

• progression 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32…

• All colors are a combination of hue, black, white

• Created the term

• Tint: addition of white
• Shade: addition of black

Swiss artist, teacher: 1888-1967

• Swiss artist, teacher: 1888-1967

• The Art of Color/ The Elements of

• Color- 1961

• Bauhaus instructor- approached

• education both physically and

• mentally.

• Used Runge’s color sphere but placed yellow at the top (brightest)

Teacher at the Bauhaus.

• Teacher at the Bauhaus.

• Refined Itten/ Kandinsky

• At Yale, Interaction of Color- 1963

• Much of his work was based on simultaneous

• contrast.

• “Homage to the Square”- investigate infinite color combinations and their reactions.

• Explored materials beyond painting/ printmaking

printer and developer of a four-color printing process known as chromolithography in the 1860's.

• printer and developer of a four-color printing process known as chromolithography in the 1860's.

• (the father of the American Christmas Card)

• Prang's system was the first workable system to reproduce color in print.

• The Prang Color Wheel arrangement

• was also used by Johannes Itten in

• his work on color.

• An outspoken advocate for bringing

• art into the classroom through the

• introduction of products like

• watercolor paints.

• More democratic ideas of who should
• have access to art.

Prang or Artist’s Color System

• Prang or Artist’s Color System

• Primaries:

• red

• blue

• yellow