Artistic color theory the modern phrenology #2: poetic injustice
May 31st, 2007 by Brad
You can still find Goethe’s Farbenlehre (Theory of Color) 1810, all over the place in modern art supply stores. It was written as an outspoken opposition to Newton’s theory that color is function of light.
It has some fundamental flaws. Surely compliments give clues to harmonies? (“Quite calling me Shirley” sorry had to do the nod to Airplane!). Basically if you know the complements then you can use logic to determine the primaries.
Here is the problem with that logic. Stare at red disk then white, the after-image is blue/green (cyan), however since 1800’s compliment described as green partially because painting system of (red,blue,yellow), the compliment “must” be equal mix of other two yellow/red. Again wrong. It is cyan in your eye or I should say as interpreted in your mind by the leftovers of over-stimulation of your cone.
Highly recommended reading for any art student really interested in color: “Color and Meaning: Art, Science, and Symbolism” by John Gage (ISBN 0-520-22611-9)
Some scientific geniuses can be wrong as well, more on the next in this series.
Culture conditions the colors we see. Culture can also mis-inform and mis-shape how we express ourselves. But I guess if everyone is working on the same fallacies…
