1. The Formation of Color Theory
Scientific and psychological explainitions

2. Color Theory and the Ancient World

3. Color Theory and the Ancient World
Empedocles
( BC)
Through observation determined color is perceived, not the property of the object.
Democritus
(? BC)
First atomic theory: color was the result of atomic arrangements.
Plato
( BC)
Worked with perception of reality. If color changes based on the viewer, how can we determine the true color of objects.

4. Aristotle (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.

5. Leonardo Da Vinci 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)

7. Sir Isaac Newton mathematician, physicist
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)

8. Newton’s Color Wheel Based on additive color Red Orange Yellow Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet

9. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German writer, poet, philosopher, and scientist: 1749-1832
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

10. Goethe Color Triangle
Goethe Color Wheel

11. Notables Philip Otto Runge J.C. Maxwell Michel Eugene Chevreul
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

12. Albert Munsell 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

13. Munsell Tree
Gradation of value along the
vertical axis
Gradation in saturation/ chroma along the horizontal branches
The equator of the solid shows the hues
Munsell notation:
1st number and letter=
hue
2nd number= value
3rd number= chroma
5R5/14= pure, middle-value red

14. Wilhelm Ostwald 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

15. Two triangular solids
joined at one side
with black at one point and white at the other.
24 pure hues at the
equator.

16. Johannes Itten 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)

17. Itten’s 6 basic contrast
of color:
Light-dark
Cold-warm
Complementary
Simultaneous contrast
Quality or Saturation
Quantity or Extension

18. Josef Albers 1888-1976 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

20. Louis Prang German immigrant, printer:1824-1909
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.

21. Prang or Artist’s Color System
Primaries:
red
blue