Fundamentals of Visual Arts: Color

Color Theory

• In the visual arts, color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impacts of specific color combinations.

• Color theory principles in West first appeared in the writings of Leone Battista Alberti (c.1435) and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (c.1490), (During Renaissance)

• But a tradition of "colory theory" began in the 18th century, initially within a partisan controversy around Isaac Newton's theory of color (Opticks, 1704) and the nature of so-called primary colors

• By 19th Century various color theories were proposed by scientists and artists

• Earlier in traditional arts color was always considered as a filler. The drawing was the main component

• With new researches in color theories and the expressive quality of color, it was emancipated (freed) from the clutches of drawing

PRIMARY & SECONDARY

RED

BLUE

YELLOW

PURPLE

GREEN

ORANGE

Some Important Terms

• HUE – a particular gradation of color

• SHADES AND TINT- by adding black and white resp)

• MONOCHROMATIC- one color

• WARM AND COOL COLORS-

• COMPLEMENTARY COLORS

• SATURATION – brilliance or depth of color

Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors of the RYB color

model

• Complementary colors are pairs of colors that are of “opposite” hue in some color model

• Analogous colors are neighbours on color wheel

Complementary and Analogous Colors

Barnett Newman, Dionysius, 1944, 67x49in.

Complementary colors

Analagous colors

Van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888

Matisse,Seated Riffian,

1912-13

Complementary colors

Analagous colors

Some examples and techniques from traditional Western Art

• FRESCO-• SFUMATO• CHAIROSCURO• IMPASTO (modern)

• Fresco (plural either frescos or frescoes) is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings

• MichaelangeloSistine Chapel15th CE

Sfumato

• Monalisa by Leonardo da Vinci

• 15th CE

• Leonardo da Vinci described sfumato as "without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke or beyond the focus plane."

Chiaroscuro • Chiaroscuro is

characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition

• Sacred and Profane Love. 1602–1603, showing dramatic compositional chiaroscuro by

• Giovanni Baglione

Impasto

• In English, the borrowed Italian word impasto most commonly refers to a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area (or the entire canvas) in a very thick manner using a brush,palette knife or directly the paint tube

• . Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides rich texture

"Crags and Crevices"(1961): Jane Frank

Vlaminck: Fauve Painter 1903

Modern Art Movements which gave tremendous importance to color

• Impressionism- Optical mixing

• Post Impressionism- Emotional and expressive quality of color explored

• Fauvism- Wild application of color

• Color Field Abstraction

Monet, Impression: Sunrise, 1872

Post Impressionism

• Paul Gauguin

• The yellow Christ

• Symbolic use of color

Vision after the sermon

Paul Gauguin

Fauvism

• Henri Matisse

• Early 20th CE

• Exploring the express

ive quality of color

Color Field Abstract

Expressionism

Monochromatic

- using only one color

Mark Tansey, The Bricoleur’s Daughter, 1987

MichaelangeloSistine Chapeldetail (monochromatic medallion)