A Color Notation/Chapter 7
Colors may be grouped to please or to give annoyance.
(146) Attempts to define the laws of harmonious color have not attained marked success, and the cause is not far to seek. The very sensations underlying these effects of concord or of discord are themselves undefined. ‘The misleading formula of my student days—that three parts of yellow, five parts of red, and eight parts of blue would combine harmoniously—was unable to define the kind of red, yellow, and blue intended; that is, the hue, value, and chroma of each of these colors was unknown, and the formula meant a different thing to each person who tried to use it.
(147) It is true that a certain red, green, and blue can be united in such proportions on Maxwell discs as to balance in a neutral gray; but the slightest change in either the hue, value, or chroma, of any one of them, upsets the balance. A new proportion is then needed to regain the neutral mixture. This has already been shown in the discussion of triple balance (paragraph 82).
(148) Harmony of color has been still further complicated by the use of terms that belong to musical harmony. Now music is a measured art, and has found a set of intervals which are defined scientifically. The two arts have many points of similarity; and the impulses of sound waves on the ear, like those of light waves on the eye, are measured vibrations. But they are far apart in their scales, and differ so much in important particulars that no practical relationship can be set up. The intervals of color sensation require fit names and measures, ere their infinite variety can be organized into a fixed system.
(149) Any effort to compare certain sounds to certain colors soon leads to the wildest vagaries.
Harmony of sound is unlike harmony of color.
(150) The poverty of color language tempts to a borrowing from the richer terminology of music. Musical terms, such as “pitch, key, note, tone, chord, modulation, nocturne, and symphony,” are frequently used in the description of color, serving by association to convey certain vague ideas.
(151) In the same way the term color harmony, from association with musical harmony, presents to the mind an image of color arrangement,—varied, yet well proportioned, grouped in orderly fashion, and agreeable to the eye. But any attempt to define this image in terms of color is disappointing. Here is a beautiful Persian rug: why do we call it beautiful? One says “because its colors are rich.” Why are they rich? “Because they are deep in tone.” What does that mean? The double-bass and the fog-horn are deep in tone, but not necessarily beautiful on that account. “Oh, no,” says another, “it is all in one harmonious key.’ But what is a key of color? Is it made by all the values of one color, such as red, or by all the hues of equal value, such as the middle hues in our color solid?
(152) Certainly it is neither, for the rug has both light and dark colors; and, of the reds, yellows, greens, and blues, some are stronger and others weaker. ‘Then what do we mean by a key of color? One must either continue to flounder about or frankly confess ignorance.
(153) Musical harmony explains itself in clear language. It is illustrated by fixed and definite sound intervals, whose measured relations form the basis of musical composition. Each key has an unmistakable character, and the written score presents a statement that means practically the same thing to every person of musical intelligence. But the adequate terms of color harmony are yet to be worked out.
Let us leave these musical analogies, retaining only the clue that a measured and orderly relation underlies the idea of harmony. The color solid which has been the subject of these pages is built upon measured color relations. It unites measured scales of hue, value, and chroma, and gives a definite color name to every sensation from the maxima of color-light and color-strength to their disappearance in darkness.
(154) Must not this theoretical color solid, therefore, locate all the elements which combine to produce color harmony or color discord?[1]
(155) Instead of theorizing, let us experiment. As a child at the piano, who first strikes random and widely separated notes, but soon seeks for the intervals of a familiar air, so let us, after roaming over the color globe and its charts, select one familiar color, and study what others will combine with it to please the eye.
(156) Here is a grayish green stuff for a dress, and the little girl who is to wear it asks what other colors she may use with it. First let us find it on our instrument, so as to realize its relation to other degrees of color. Its value is 6,—one step above the equator of middle value. Its hue is green, G, and its chroma 5. It is written G65.
(157) Color paths lead out from this point in every direction. Where shall we find harmonious colors, where discordant, where those paths most frequently travelled? Are there new ones still to be explored?
(158) There are three typical paths: one vertical, with rapid change of value; another lateral, with rapid change of hue; and a third inward, through the neutral centre to seek the opposite color field. All other paths are combinations of two or three of these typical directions in the color solid.
Three typical color paths.
(159) 1. The vertical path finds only lighter and darker values
of gray-green, —“self-colors or shades,” they are generally called,—
An image should appear at this position in the text.
and offers a safe path, even for those deficient in color sensation, avoiding all complications of hue, and leaving the eye free
to estimate different degrees of a single
quality,—color-light.
(160) 2. The lateral path passes through neighboring hues on either side. In this case it is a sequence from blue, through green into yellow. This is simply change of hue, without change of value or chroma if the path be level, but, by inclining it, one end of the sequence becomes lighter, while the other end darkens. It thus becomes an intermediate between the first and second typ- ical paths, combining, at each step, a change of hue with a change of value. This is more complicated, but also more inter- esting, showing how the character of the gray-green dress will be set off by a lighter hat of Leghorn straw, and further improved by a trimming of darker blue-green. The sequence can be made still more subtle and attractive by choosing a straw whose yellow is stronger than the green of the dress, while a weaker chroma of blue-green is used in the trimming. This is clearly expressed by the notation thus: Y87, G65, BG43, and written on the score by three dots and their chromas,—7, 5, and 3.
(161) 3. The inward path which leads by increase of gray to the neutral centre, and on to the opposite hue red-purple, RP45, is full of pitfalls for the inexpert. It combines great change of hue and chroma, with small change of value.
(162) If any other color point be chosen in place of gray-green, the same typical paths are just as easily traced, written by the notation, and recorded on the color score.
These paths trace sequences from any point in the color solid.
(163) In the construction of the color solid we saw that its scales were made of equal steps in hue, value, and chroma, and tested by balance on the centre of neutral gray. Any step will serve as a point of departure to trace regular sequences of the three types. The vertical type is a sequence of value only. It is somewhat tame, lacking the change of hue and chroma, but giving a monotonous harmony of regular values. The horizontal type traces a sequence of neighboring hues, less tame than the vertical type, but monotonous in value and chroma. ‘The inward type connects opposite hues by a sequence of chroma balanced on middle gray, and is more stimulating to the eyes.
(164) These paths have so far been treated as made up of equal steps in each direction, with the accompanying idea of equal quantities of color at each step. But by using unequal quantities of color, the balance may be preserved by compensations to the intervals that separate the colors (see paragraphs 109, 110).
Unequal color quantities compensated by relations of hue, value, and chroma.
(165) Small bits of powerful color can be used to balance large fields of weak chroma. For instance, a spot of strong reddish purple is balanced and enhanced by a field of gray-green. So an amethyst pin at the neck of the girl’s dress will appear to advantage with the gown, and also with the Leghorn straw. But a large field of strong color, such as a cloth jacket of reddish purple, would be fatal to the measured harmony we seek.
(166) This use of a small point of strong chroma, if repeated at intervals, sets up a notion of rhythm; but, in order to be rhythmic, there must be recurrent emphasis, “a succession of similar units, combining unlike elements.” This quality must not be confused with the unaccented succession, seen in a measured scale of hue, value, or chroma.
Paper masks to isolate color intervals.
(167) A sheet of paper large enough to hide the color sphere may be perforated with three or more openings in a straight line, and applied against the surface, so as to isolate the steps of any se- quence which we wish to study. Thus the sequence given in paragraph 160—Y87, G65, BG43—may be changed to bring it on the surface of the sphere, when it reads Y83, G6⁄5, BG55. A mask with round holes, spaced so as to uncover these three spots, relieves the eye from the distraction of other colors. Keeping the centre spot on green, the mask may be moved so as to study the effect of changing hue or value of the other two steps in the sequence.
(168) The sequence is lightened by sliding the whole mask upward, and darkened by dropping it lower. Then the result of using the same intervals in another field is easily studied by moving the mask to another part of the solid.
(169) Change of interval immediately modifies the character of a color sequence. This is readily shown by having an under-mask, with a long, continuous slit, and an over-mask whose perforations are arranged in several rows, each row giving different spaces between the perforations. In the case of the girl’s cloth- ing, the same sequence produces quite a different effect, if two perforations of the over-mask are brought nearer to select a lighter yellow-green dress, while the ends of the sequence remain unchanged. To move the middle perforation near the other end, selects a darker bluish green dress, on which the trimming will be less contrasted, while the hat appears brighter than before, because of greater contrast.
(170) The variations of color sequence which can thus be studied out by simple masks are almost endless; yet upon a measured system the character of each effect is easily described, and, if need be, preserved by a written record.
Invention of color groups.
(171) Experiments with variable masks for the selection of color intervals, such as have been described, soon stimulate the imagination, so that it conceives sequences through any part of the color solid. The color image becomes a permanent mental adjunct. Five middle colors, tempered with white and black, permit us to devise the greatest variety of sequences, some light, others dark, some combining small difference of chroma with large difference of hue, others uniting large intervals of chroma with small intervals of hue, and so on through a well-nigh inexhaustible series.
(172) As this constructive imagination gains power, the solid and its charts may be laid aside. We can now think color consecutively. Each color suggests its place in the system, and may be taken as a point of departure for the invention of groups to carry out a desired relation.
(173) This selective mental process is helped by the score described in the last chapter; and the quantity of each color chosen for the group is easily indicated by a variable circle, drawn round the various points on the diagram. Thus, in the case of the child’s clothes, a large circle around G65 gives the area of that color as compared with smaller circles around Y87 and BG43, representing the area of the straw and the trimming.
(174) When the plotting of color groups has become instinctive from long practice, it opens a wide field of color study. Take as illustration the wings of butterflies or the many varieties of pansies. These fascinating color schemes can be written with indications of area that record their differences by a simple diagram. In the same way, rugs, tapestries, mosaics,—whatever attracts by its beauty and harmony of color,—can be recorded and studied in measured terms; and the mental process of estimating hues, values, chromas, and areas by established scales must lead the color sense to finer and finer perceptions.
The same process serves as well to record the most annoying and inharmonious color groups. When sufficient of these records have been obtained, they furnish definite material for a contrast of the color combinations which please, with those that cause disgust. Such a contrast should discover some broad law of color harmony. It will then be in measured terms which can be clearly given; not a vague personal statement, conveying different meanings to each one who hears it.
Constant exercise needed to train the color sense.
(175) Appreciation of beautiful color grows by exercise and discrimination, just as naturally as fine perception of music or literature. Each is an outlet for the expression of taste,—a language which may be used clumsily or with skill.
(176) As color perception becomes finer, it discards the more crude and violent contrasts. A child revels in strong chromas, but the mark of a colorist is ability to employ low chroma without impoverishing the color effect. As a boy’s shrieks and groans can be tempered to musical utterance, so his debauches in violent red, green, and purple must be replaced by tempered hues.
(177) Raphael, Titian, Velasquez, Corot, Chavannes, and Whistler are masters in the use of gray. Personal bias may lead one colorist a little more toward warm colors, and another slightly toward the cool field, in each case attaining a sense of harmonious balance by tempered degrees of value and chroma.[2]
(178) It is not claimed that discipline in the use of subtle colors will make another Corot or Velasquez, but it will make for com- prehension of their skill. It is grotesque to watch gaudily dressed persons going into ecstasies over the delicate coloring of a Botticelli, when the internal as well as the external evidence is against them.
(179) The colors which we choose, not only in personal apparel, but in our rooms and decorations, are mute witnesses to a stage of color perception.
If that perception is trained to finer distinctions, the mind can no longer be content with coarse expression. It begins to feel an incongruity between the “loud” color of the wall paper, bought because it was fashionable, and the quiet hues of the rug, which was a gift from some artistic friend. It sees that, although the furniture is covered with durable and costly materials, their color “swears”? at that of the curtains and wood-work. In short, the room has been jumbled together at various periods, without any plan or sense of color design.
(180) Good taste demands that a room be furnished, not alone for convenience and comfort, but also with an eye to the beauty of the various objects, so that, instead of confusing and destroying the colors, each may enhance the other. And, when this sense of color harmony is aroused, it selects and arranges the books, the rugs, the lamp shade, the souvenirs of travel and friendship, the wall paper, pictures, and hangings, so that they fit into a color scheme, not only charming to the eye at first glance, but which continues to please the mind as it traces out an intelligent plan, bringing all into general harmony.
(181) Nor will this cease when one room has been put to rights. Such a coloristic attitude is not satisfied until the vista into the next apartment is made attractive. Or should there be a suite of rooms, it demands that, with variety in each one, they all be brought into harmonious sequence. ‘Thus the study of color finds immediate and practical use in daily life. It is a needed discipline of color vision, in the sense that geometry is a discipline of the mind, and it also enters into the pleasure and refinement of life at every step. Skill or awkwardness in its use exerts as positive an influence upon us as do the harmonies and discords of sound, and a far more continuous one. It is thought a defect to be unmusical. Should it not be considered a mark of defective cultivation to be insensitive to color?
(182) In this slight sketch of color education it has been assumed that we are to deal with those who have normal perceptions. But there are some who inherit or develop various degrees of color-blindness; and a word in their behalf may be opportune.
(183) A case of total color-blindness is very rare, but a few are on record. When a child shows deficient color perception,[3] a little care may save him much discomfort, and patient training may correct it. If he mismatches some hues, confuses their names, seems incapable of the finer distinctions of color, study to find the hues which he estimates well, and then help him to venture a little into that field where his perception is at fault. Improvement is pretty sure to follow when this is sympathetically done. One student, who never outgrew the habit of giving a purplish hue to all his work, despite many expedients and the use of various lights and colored objects to correct it, is the single exception among hundreds whom it has been my privilege to watch as they improved their first crude estimates, and gained skill in expressing their sense of Nature’s subtle color.
(184) To sum up, the first chapter suggests a measured color system in place of guess-work. The next describes the three color qualities, and sketches a child’s growth in color perception. The third tells how colors may be mingled in such proportions as to balance. After the impracticability of using spectral color has been shown in the fourth chapter, the fifth proceeds to build a practical color solid. The sixth provides for a written record of color, and the last applies all that has preceded to suggestions for the study of color harmony.
(185) Wide gaps appear in this outline. There is much that deserves fuller treatment. But, if the search for refined color and a clearer outlook upon its relations are stimulated by this fragmentary sketch, some of its faults may be overlooked.
- ↑ Professor James says there are three classic stages in the career of a theory: “First, it is attacked as absurd; then admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim to be its discoverers.”
- ↑ “Nature’s most lively hues are bathed in lilac grays. Spread all about us, yet visible
only to the fine perception of the colorist, is this gray quality by which he appeals. Not
he whose pictures abound in ‘couleurs voyantes,’ but he who preserves in his work all
the ‘gris colorés’ is the good colorist.”
Translation from J. F. Rafaelli, in Annales Politiques & Litteraires.
- ↑ See Color Blindness in Glossary.