CHAPTER VII.
COLOR HARMONY.
+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?[32]
[Footnote 32: 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."]
(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 G 6/5.
(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.+
[Illustration: Fig. 25.]
(159) 1. The vertical path finds only lighter and darker values of gray-green,--"self-colors or shades," they are generally called,--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 typical paths, combining, at each step, a change of hue with a change of value. This is more complicated, but also more interesting, 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: Y 8/7, G 6/5, BG 4/3, and written on the score by three dots and their chromas,--7, 5, and 3 (see Fig. 23).
(161) 3. The inward path which leads by increase of gray to the neutral centre, and on to the opposite hue red-purple, RP 4/5, 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 sequence which we wish to study. Thus the sequence given in paragraph 160--Y 8/7, G 6/5, BG 4/3--may be changed to bring it on the surface of the sphere, when it reads Y 8/3, G 6/5, BG 5/5. 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 clothing, 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 G 6/5 gives the area of that color as compared with smaller circles around Y 8/7 and BG 4/3, 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.[33]
[Footnote 33: "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_.]
(178) It is not claimed that discipline in the use of subtle colors will make another Corot or Velasquez, but it will make for comprehension 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,[34] 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.
[Footnote 34: See Color Blindness in Glossary.]
(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.
[Illustration: REPRODUCTION OF FLOWER STUDIES, PAINTED WITH MUNSELL WATER COLOR Published By WADSWORTH, HOWLAND & CO., INCORPORATED BOSTON, MASS.]
PART II.
A COLOR SYSTEM AND COURSE OF STUDY BASED ON THE COLOR SOLID AND ITS CHARTS.
Arranged for nine years of school life.
GLOSSARY OF COLOR TERMS.
Taken from the Century Dictionary.
INDEX
(by paragraphs).
[Illustration: Fig. 2 (See Fig. 20) The Color Tree]
A COLOR SYSTEM WITH COURSE OF STUDY BASED ON THE COLOR SOLID AND ITS CHARTS
_See Chapter II._
Copyright, 1904, by A. H. Munsell.
A COLOR SYSTEM AND COURSE OF STUDY
BASED ON THE COLOR SOLID AND ITS CHARTS, ADAPTED TO NINE YEARS OF SCHOOL LIFE.
Gr. Grade Ill. Illustration App. Application Mat. Materials
==================================================================== Gr. |Subject. | Colors Studied. | Ill. | App. | Mat. ----+---------+---------------------+-----------+---------+--------- 1. | HUES | Red. R. | Sought in | Borders | Colored | of | Yellow. Y. | Nature | and | crayons | color. | Green. G. | and Art. |Rosettes.| and | | Blue. B. | | | papers. | | Purple. P. | | | ----+---------+---------------------+-----------+---------+--------- 2. | HUES | Yellow-red. YR. | Sought in | Borders | Colored | of | Green-yellow. GY. | Nature | and | crayons | color. | Blue-green. BG. | and Art. |Rosettes.| and | | Purple-blue. PB. | | | papers. | | Red-purple. RP. | | | ----+---------+---------------------+-----------+---------+--------- 3. | VALUES | Light, middle, | Sought in | Design. | Color | of | and dark R. | Nature | | sphere. | color. | " " Y. | and Art. | | | | " " G. | | | | | " " B. | | | | | " " P. | | | ----+---------+---------------------+-----------+---------+--------- 4. | VALUES | 5 values of YR.} | Sought in | Design. | Charts. | of | " " " GY.} | Nature | | | color. | " " " BG.} | and Art. | | | | " " " PB.} | | | | | " " " RP.} | | | | | 9/, 7/, 5/, 3/, 1/. | | | ----+---------+---------------------+-----------+---------+--------- 5. | CHROMAS | 3 chromas of R5/. | Sought in | Design. | Charts. | of | " " " Y5/. | Nature | | | color. | " " " G5/. | and Art | | | | " " " B5/. | | | | | " " " P5/. | | | ----+---------+---------------------+-----------+---------+--------- 6. | CHROMAS | 3 chromas of YR5/. | Sought in | Design | Color | of | " " " GY5/. | Nature | | Tree. | color. | " " " BG5/. | and Art. | | | | " " " PB5/. | | | | | " " " RP5/. | | | | | " " " | | | | | R7/ and R3/.} | | | | | " Y7/ " Y3/.} | | | | | " G7/ " G3/.} | | | | | " B7/ " B3/.} | | | | | " P7/ " P3/.} | | | ----+---------+---------------------+-----------+---------+--------- 7. |To OBSERVE IMITATE & WRITE | color by HUE, VALUE, and CHROMA " " Paints. | ----+--------------------------------------------------------------- 8. |QUANTITY of color. | Pairs of equal area and unequal area " " Paints. | Balanced by HUE, VALUE, and CHROMA. ----+--------------------------------------------------------------- 9. |QUANTITY of color. | Triads of equal area and unequal area " " Paints. | Balanced by HUE, VALUE, and CHROMA. ====================================================================
Copyright, 1904, by A. H. Munsell.
STUDY OF SINGLE HUES AND THEIR SEQUENCE. Two Years.
_FIRST GRADE LESSONS._
1. Talk about familiar objects, to bring out color names, 2. as toys, flowers, clothing, birds, insects, etc. 3. Show soap bubbles and prismatic spectrum. 4. Teach term HUE. Hues of flowers, spectrum, plumage of birds, etc. 5. Show MIDDLE[35] RED. Find other reds. 6. Show MIDDLE YELLOW. Find other yellows, and compare with reds. 7. Show MIDDLE GREEN. Find other greens, " with reds and yellows. 8. Show MIDDLE BLUE. Find other blues, " with preceding hues. 9. Show MIDDLE PURPLE. Find other purples, " with preceding hues. 10-15. Review FIVE MIDDLE HUES,[35] match with colored papers, and place in circle. 16-20. Show COLOR SPHERE. Find sequence of five middle hues. Memorize order. 21. Middle red imitated with crayon, named and written by initial R. 22. Middle yellow " " " " by initial Y. 23. Middle green " " " " by initial G. 24. Middle blue " " " " by initial B. 25. Middle purple " " " " by initial P. 26-30. Review, using middle hues[35] in borders and rosettes for design.
_Aim._--To recognize sequence of five middle hues. To name, match, imitate, write, and arrange them.
_SECOND GRADE LESSONS._
1-3. Review sequence of five middle hues.[35] 4. Show a hue INTERMEDIATE between red and yellow. Find it in objects. 5. Compare with red and yellow. 6. Recognize and name YELLOW-RED. Match, imitate, and write YR. 7-8. Show GREEN-YELLOW between green and yellow. Treat as above, and write GY. 9-10. Show BLUE-GREEN between blue and green. " " and write BG. 11-12. Show PURPLE-BLUE between purple and blue. " " and write PB. 13-14. Show RED-PURPLE between red and purple. " " and write RP. 15-20. Make circle of ten hues. Place Intermediates, and memorize order so as to repeat forward or backward. Match, imitate, and write by initials. 21-25. Find sequence of ten hues on COLOR SPHERE. Compare with hues of natural objects. 26-30. Review, using any two hues in sequence for borders and rosettes.
_Aim._--To recognize sequence of ten hues, made up of five middle[35] hues and the five intermediates. To name, match, write, imitate, and arrange them.
[Footnote 35: The term MIDDLE, as used in this course of color study, is understood to mean only the five principal hues which stand midway in the scales of VALUE and CHROMA. Strictly speaking, their five intermediates are also midway of the scales; but they are obtained by mixture of the five principal hues, as shown in their names, and are of secondary importance.]
STUDY OF SINGLE VALUES AND THEIR SEQUENCE. Two Years.
_THIRD GRADE LESSONS._
1. Review sequence of ten hues. 2. Recognize, name, match, imitate, write, and find them 3. on the COLOR SPHERE. Also in objects. 4. Teach use of term VALUE. Color value recognized apart from color hue. 5. Find values of red, lighter and darker than the middle value already familiar. 7. THREE VALUES of RED. Find on sphere. Name as LIGHT, MIDDLE, and DARK values of red. 8. THREE VALUES of RED. Imitate with crayons, and write them as 3, 5, and 7. 9. THREE VALUES of YELLOW. Compare with above. 10. Recognize, name, match, and imitate with crayons. 11. THREE VALUES of GREEN. Compare, and treat as above. 12. Find on sphere and in objects. 13. THREE VALUES of BLUE. " " 14. 15. THREE VALUES of PURPLE. " " 16. 17-20. Review, combining two values and a single hue for design.[36]
_Aim._--To recognize a sequence combining three values and five middle hues. To name, match, imitate, and arrange them.
[Footnote 36: These ten lessons in this and succeeding grades are devoted to color perception only. Their application to design is a part of the general course in drawing, and will be so considered in the succeeding grades. Note that, although thus far nothing has been said about complementary hues, the child has been led to associate them in opposite pairs by the color sphere. (See Chapter III., p. 76.)] [[Error for "paragraph 76"]]
_FOURTH GRADE LESSONS._
1. Review sequence of three values in each of the five middle hues. 2. To recognize, name, match, imitate, and 3. find them on sphere and in objects. 4. Show FIVE VALUES of RED. Find them on large color sphere. 5. Number them 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. Match, imitate, and write. 6. Show FIVE VALUES of BLUE-GREEN. " " " Treat as above and review. 7. Show FIVE VALUES of PURPLE-BLUE compared with Yellow. Treat as above and review. 8. Show FIVE VALUES of RED-PURPLE " Green. Treat as above and review. 9. Show FIVE VALUES of YELLOW-RED " Blue. Treat as above and review. 10. Show FIVE VALUES of GREEN-YELLOW " Purple. Treat as above and review.
_Aim._--To recognize sequences combining five values in each of ten hues. To name, match, imitate, WRITE, and arrange them.
STUDY OF SINGLE CHROMAS AND THEIR SEQUENCES. Two Years.
_FIFTH GRADE LESSONS._
1. Review sequences of hue and value. Find them on the color sphere. Name, match, imitate, write, and arrange them by hue and value. 2. Teach use of term CHROMA. Compare three chromas with three values of red. Name them WEAK, MIDDLE, and STRONG chromas. Find in nature and art. 3. THREE CHROMAS of RED. Compare with three of blue-green. 4. Show COLOR TREE. Suggest unequal chroma of hues. 5. THREE CHROMAS of YELLOW. Compare with three chromas of purple-blue. 6. THREE CHROMAS of GREEN. " " red-purple. 7. THREE CHROMAS of BLUE. " " yellow-red. 8. THREE CHROMAS of PURPLE. " " green-yellow. 9. Arrange five middle hues in circle, described as on the surface of the Color Sphere (middle chroma), with weaker chromas inside, and stronger chromas outside, the sphere. 10. Review,--to find these sequences of chroma in nature and art.
_Aim._--To recognize sequences combining three chromas, middle value, and ten hues. To name, match, imitate, and arrange them.
_SIXTH GRADE LESSONS._
1. Review sequences combining three chromas, five hues, and middle value. Find on Color Tree, name, match, imitate, and arrange them. 2. THREE CHROMAS of LIGHTER and DARKER RED. Compare with middle red. 3. Write " " " " as a fraction, chroma under value, using 3, 5, and 7. Thus R 5/7. 4. Find CHROMAS of LIGHTER RED, and compare with darker blue-green. 5. THREE CHROMAS of LIGHTER and DARKER YELLOW, with purple-blue. 6. " " " " GREEN, " red-purple. 7. " " " " BLUE, " yellow-red. 8. " " " " PURPLE, " green-yellow. 9. Colors in nature and art, defined by hue, value, and chroma. Named, matched, imitated, written, and arranged by Color Sphere and Tree. 10. Review,--to find sequences combining three chromas, five values, and ten hues.
_Aim._--To recognize sequences of chroma, as separate from sequences of hue or sequences of value. To name, match, write, imitate, and arrange colors in terms of their hue, value, and chroma.
COLOR EXPRESSION IN TERMS OF THE HUES, VALUES, AND CHROMAS.
_SEVENTH GRADE LESSONS._
1. Review sequences of hue (initial), value (upper numeral), & chroma (lower numeral). 2. " " " " 3. Exercises in expressing colors of natural objects by the NOTATION, 4. and tracing their relation by the spherical solid. 5. REDS in Nature and Art, imitated, written, and traced by the spherical solid. 6. YELLOWS in Nature and Art, " " by the spherical solid. 7. GREENS in Nature and Art, " " by the spherical solid. 8. BLUES in Nature and Art, " " by the spherical solid. 9. PURPLES in Nature and Art, " " by the spherical solid. 10. ONE COLOR PAIR selected, defined, and arranged for design. (See note 4th Grade.)
_Aim._--To define any color by its hue, value, and chroma. To imitate with pigments and write it.
_EIGHTH GRADE LESSONS._
1. Review sequences, and select colors which balance. Illustrate the term. 2. BALANCE of light and dark,--weak and strong,--hot and cold colors. 3. RED and blue-green balanced in hue, value, and chroma, with EQUAL AREAS. 4. YELLOW and purple-blue " " with EQUAL AREAS. 5. GREEN and red-purple " " with EQUAL AREAS. 6. BLUE and yellow-red " " with EQUAL AREAS. 7. PURPLE and green-yellow " " with EQUAL AREAS. 8. UNEQUAL AREAS of the above pairs, balanced by compensating 9. qualities of hue, value, and chroma. Examples from nature and art. 10. ONE COLOR PAIR of unequal areas selected, defined, and used in design.
_Aim._--To BALANCE colors by area, hue, value, and chroma. To imitate with pigments and write the balance by the notation.
_NINTH GRADE LESSONS._
1. Review balance of color pairs, by area, hue, value, and chroma. 2. To recognize, name, imitate, write, and record them. 3. SELECTION of two colors to balance a given RED. 4. " " " " YELLOW. 5. " " " " GREEN. 6. " " " " BLUE. 7. " " " " PURPLE. 8-10. TRIAD of color, selected, balanced, written, and used in design.
_Aim._--To recognize triple balance of color, and express it in terms of area, hue, value, and chroma. Also to use it in design.
GLOSSARY OF COLOR TERMS
TAKEN FROM THE
_CENTURY DICTIONARY_.
GLOSSARY
_The color definitions here employed are taken from the Century Dictionary. Special attention is called to the cross references which serve to differentiate HUE, VALUE, and CHROMA._
AFTER IMAGE.--An image perceived after withdrawing the eye from a brilliantly illuminated object. Such images are called positive when their colors are the same as that of the object, and negative when they are its complementary colors.
BLUE.--Of the color of the clear sky; of the color of the spectrum between wave lengths .505 and .415 micron, and more especially .487 and .460; or of such light mixed with white; azure, cerulean.
BLACK.--Possessing in the highest degree the property of absorbing light; reflecting and transmitting little or no light; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest possible hue; sable. Optically, wholly destitute of color, or absolutely dark, whether from the absence or the total absorption of light. Opposed to white.
BROWN.--A dark color, inclined to red or yellow, obtained by mixing red, black, and yellow.
+CHROMA.--The degree of departure of a color sensation from that of white or gray; the intensity of distinctive hue; color intensity.+
CHROMATIC.--Relating to or of the nature of color.
COBALT BLUE.--A pure blue tending toward cyan blue and of high luminosity; also called Hungary blue, Lethner's blue, and Paris blue.
COLOR.--Objectively, that quality of a thing or appearance which is perceived by the eye alone, independently of the form of the thing; subjectively, a sensation peculiar to the organ of vision, and arising from the optic nerve.
COLOR BLINDNESS.--Incapacity for perceiving colors, independent of the capacity for distinguishing light and shade. The most common form is inability to perceive red as a distinct color, red objects being confounded with gray or green; and next in frequency is the inability to perceive green.
COLOR CONSTANTS.--The numbers which measure the quantities, as well as any other system of three numbers for defining colors, are called constants of color.
COLOR VARIABLES.--Colors vary in CHROMA, or freedom from admixture of white light; in BRIGHTNESS, or luminosity; and in HUE, which roughly corresponds to the mean wave length of the light emitted.
COLORS, COMPLEMENTARY.--Those pairs of color which when mixed produce white or gray light, such as red and green-blue, yellow and indigo-blue, green-yellow and violet.
COLORS, PRIMARY.--The red, green, and violet light of the spectrum, from the mixture of which all other colors can be produced. Also called fundamental colors.
DYESTUFFS.--In commerce, any dyewood, lichen, or dyecake used in dyeing and staining.
ELECTRIC LIGHT.--Light produced by electricity and of two general kinds, the arc light and the incandescent light. In the first the voltaic arc is employed. In the second a resisting conductor is rendered incandescent by the current.
ENAMEL.--In the fine arts a vitreous substance or glass, opaque or transparent, and variously colored, applied as a coating on a surface of metal or of porcelain.
GRATING, DIFFRACTION.--A series of fine parallel lines on a surface of glass, or polished metal, ruled very close together, at the rate of 10,000 to 20,000 or even 40,000 to the inch; distinctively called a diffraction or a diffraction grating, much used in spectroscopic work.
GRAY.--A color having little or no distinctive hue (CHROMA) and only moderate luminosity.
GREEN.--The color of ordinary foliage; the color seen in the solar spectrum between wave lengths 0.511 and 0.543 micron.
EMERALD GREEN.--A highly chromatic and extraordinarily luminous green of the color of the spectrum at wave length 0.524 micron. It recalls the emerald by its brilliancy, but not by its tint; applied generally to the aceto-arsenate of copper. Usually known as Paris green.
HIGH COLOR.--A hue which excites intensely chromatic color sensations.
+HUE.--Specifically and technically, distinctive quality of coloring in an object or on a surface; the respect in which red, yellow, green, blue, etc., differ one from another; that in which colors of equal luminosity and CHROMA may differ.+
INDIGO.--The violet-blue color of the spectrum, extending, according to Helmholtz, from G two-thirds of the way to F in the prismatic spectrum. The name was introduced by Newton, but has lately been discarded by the best writers.
LIGHT.--Adjective applied to colors highly luminous and more or less deficient in CHROMA.
LUMINOSITY.--Specifically, the intensity of light in a color, measured photometrically; that is to say, a standard light has its intensity, or _vis viva_, altered, until it produces the impression of being equally bright with the color whose light is to be determined; and the measure of the _vis viva_ of the altered light, relatively to its standard intensity, is then taken as the luminosity of the color in question.
MAXWELL COLOR DISCS.--Discs having each a single color, and slit radially so that one may be made to lap over another to any desired extent. By rotating these on a spindle, the effect of combining certain colors in varying proportions can be studied.
MICRON.--The millionth part of a metre, or 1/23400 of an English inch. The term has been formally adopted by the International Commission of Weights and Measures, representing the civilized nations of the world, and is adopted by all metrologists.
ORANGE.--A reddish yellow color, of which the orange is the type.
VISION, PERSISTENCE OF.--The continuance of a visual impression upon the retina of the eye after the exciting cause is removed. The length of time varies with the intensity of the light and the excitability of the retina, and ordinarily is brief, though the duration may be for hours, or even days. The after image may be either positive or negative, the latter when the bright part appears dark and the colored parts in their corresponding contrast colors. It is because of this persistence that, for example, a firebrand moved very rapidly appears as a band or circle of light.
PHOTOMETER.--An instrument used to measure the intensity of light. Specifically, to compare the relative intensities of the light emitted from various sources.
PIGMENT.--Any substance that is or can be used by painters to impart color to bodies.
PINK.--A red color of low chroma, but high luminosity, inclining toward purple.
PRIMARY COLORS.--See Colors, primary.
PURE COLOR.--A color produced by homogeneous light. Any very brilliant or decided color.
PURPLE.--A color formed by the mixture of blue and red, including the violet of the spectrum above wave length 0.417, which is nearly a violet blue, and extending to, but not including, crimson.
RAINBOW.--A bow or an arc of a circle, consisting of the prismatic colors, formed by the refraction and the reflection of rays of light from drops of rain or vapor, appearing in the part of the heavens opposite to the sun.
RED.--A color more or less resembling that of blood, or the lower end of the spectrum. Red is one of the most general color names, and embraces colors ranging in hue from aniline to scarlet iodide of mercury and red lead. A red yellower than vermilion is called scarlet. One much more crimson is called crimson red. A very dark red, if pure or crimson, is called maroon; if brownish, chestnut or chocolate. A pale red--that is, one of low CHROMA and high LUMINOSITY--is called a pink, ranging from rose pink or pale crimson to salmon pink or pale scarlet.
VENETIAN RED.--An important pigment used by artists, somewhat darker than brick red in color, and very permanent.
RETINA.--The innermost and chiefly nervous coat of the posterior part of the eyeball.
SATURATION, OF COLORS.--In optics the degree of admixture with white, the saturation diminishing as the amount of white is increased. In other words, the highest degree of saturation belongs to a given color when in the state of greatest purity.
SCALE.--A graded system, by reference to which the degree, intensity, or quality of a sense perception may be estimated.
SHADE.--Degree or gradation of defective luminosity in a color, often used vaguely from the fact that paleness, or high luminosity, combined with defective CHROMA, is confounded with high luminosity by itself. See Color, Hue, and Tint.
SPECTRUM.--In physics the continuous band of light showing the successive prismatic colors, or the isolated lines or bands of color, observed when the radiation from such a source as the sun or an ignited vapor in a gas flame is viewed after having been passed through a prism (prismatic spectrum) or reflected from a diffraction grating (diffraction or interference spectrum). See Rainbow.
TINT.--A variety of color; especially and properly, a luminous variety of low CHROMA; also, abstractly, the respect in which a color may be raised by more or less admixture of white, which at once increases the luminosity and diminishes the CHROMA.
TONE.--A sound having definiteness and continuity enough so that its pitch, force, and quality may be readily estimated by the ear. Musical sound opposed to noise. The prevailing effect of a color.
ULTRAMARINE.--A beautiful natural blue pigment, obtained from the mineral lapis-lazuli.
+VALUE.--In painting and the allied arts, relation of one object, part, or atmospheric plane of a picture to the others, with reference to light and shade, the idea of HUE being abstracted.+
VERMILION.--The red sulphate of mercury.
VIOLET.--A general class of colors, of which the violet flower is a highly chromatic example. The sensation is produced by a pure blue whose CHROMA has been diminished while its LUMINOSITY has been increased. Thus blue and violet are the same color, though the sensations are different. A mere increase of illumination may cause a violet blue to appear violet, with a diminution of apparent CHROMA. This color, called violet or blue according to the quality of the sensation it excites, is one of the three fundamental colors of Young's theory. A deep blue tinged with red.
VIRIDIAN.--Same as Veronese green.
WHITE.--A color transmitting, and so reflecting to the eye, all the rays of the spectrum, combined in the same proportion as in the impinging light.
YELLOW.--The color of gold and of light, of wave length 0.581 micron. The name is restricted to highly chromatic and luminous colors. When reduced in CHROMA, it becomes buff; when reduced in LUMINOSITY, a cool brown. See Brown.
VERONESE GREEN.--A pigment consisting of hydrated chromium sesquioxide. It is a clear bluish green of great permanency. Also called Viridian.
INDEX BY PARAGRAPHS.
Balance of color, 23, 47, 67, 75-77, 81-86, 106, 108, 111, 114, 132, 136, 142, 147, Appendix III. Black, 12, 16, 22, 31, 41, 54, 55, 65, 91, 119. Blue, 9, 12, 16, 34, 104, 146, 147. Brewster's theory, Appendix III.
Charts of the color sphere, 14, 17, 126, 127, 135, 136, 140. Chevreul, Appendix III., V. Chroma, 3, 4, 8, 11, 14, 21-24, 28, 39, 40, 42, 45, 64, 76, 78, 82, 88, 94, 95, 105, 121, 132. Scale of, 12, 19, 25, 31-35, 42, 133. Strongest, 32, 34, 42. Chromatic tuning fork, 117, 118, 119-127. Circuit, inclined, 16, 17, 97. Color, apparatus, 3, 8, 14, 132. Atlas, 129. Balance, 23, 47, 67, 75-77, 81-86 (triple), 106, 108, 111, 114, 132, 136, 142, 147. Blindness, 182, 183. Charts, 14, 17, 126, 127, 135, 136, 140. Circuit, 54, 58, 59. Complementary, 76, 77. Color, dimensions of, 3, 8, 9, 13, 25, 53, 94, 116. Curves, 94. Discs, Maxwell's, 76, 93, 106-112, 113, 117. Harmony, 47, 77, 86, 145-148, 151-174, 180. Hand as a holder of, 54-58. Key of, 6, 151, 152. Language, poverty of, 5, 175. Lists, 131. Measured, 3, 14, 32. Meridians, 136, 137. Middle, 28, 29, 40-42, 113. Misnomers, Appendix I. Mixture, 56-72. Names, 1, 2, 14, 19, 25, 90, 91, 131. Notation, 36, 37, 40-42, 47, 67, 72, 86, 101, 133. Orange, 9-11, 89, 123. Parallels, 12, 119. Paths, 157, 158, 160-164. Perception, 27, 29, 39, 179. Principal (5), 4, 16, 21, 26, 31, 34, 40, 54, 56, 57. Principal (5) and intermediates (5), 31, 60, 68, 112, 134. Purity, 8, 19, 23, 89, 98, 99. Records 145. Relations, 14, 24, 36, 37, 153. Rhythm, 166. Scale, 3, 7, 24, 30, 55, 120, 140, Appendix II. Score, 133-139, 142, 173. Sensations, 3, 4, 15, 19, 21, 87. Sequences, 47, 78, 79, 120, 156, 169-171, 181. Sir Isaac Newton's, 89. Schemes, Appendix V. Solid, 14, 19, 102, 126, 129, 140, 153. Spectral, 16, 88, 94, 129. Sphere, 12-17, 24, 25, 31, 43, 55, 72, 91, 101, 102, 111, 122, 132. Standard, 4, 26, 35. System, 3, 8, 28, 123, 130. Need of, 46, 148. Tree, 14, 30-34, 43, 94, 95, 124. Waves, 21, 23, 136. Tones, 134. Children's color studies, Appendix IV. Colorist, 84, 121, 177. Coloristic art, 7, 38, 45, 177. Combined scales, 12, 14, 36, 37, 47. Complements, 76, 77. Course of color study, 48-50.
Daylight photometer, 22, 103, 119.
Enamels, 28, 29, 101, 117.
Fading, 8, 23. False color balance, Appendix III. Flat diagrams, 14. Fundamental sensations, 28, Appendix III.
Green, 2, 32, 104, 136, 137, 140, 147, 148.
Hue, 3, 4, 8, 9-11, 14, 18, 21-26, 34, 39, 40, 43, 54, 59, 76, 82, 89, 105. Scale of, 12, 19, 25, 31, 35, 120, 133.
Ideal color system, 100.
Lambert's pyramid, note to 31. Luminist, 121.
Masks, 47, 167-171. Maxwell discs, 93, 107, 113, 117. Measurement of colors, 3, 8, 14, 116, Appendix IV. Middle gray, 61, 65, 72. Middle hues, 10, 28, 65. Mixture of hues, 56-72. Musical terms used for colors, 6, 46, 148-150.
Neutral axis, 31, 34, 61, 65, 121. Neutral gray, 11, 23, 25, 62, 64, 65, 72, 114, 102. Notation diagram, 140.
Orange, 9-11, 18, 123.
Personal bias, 144, 174. Pigments, 14, 27-29, 101-104, 125, 129. Photometer, 65. Primary sensations, 89. Prismatic color sphere, 98. Purple, 5.
Rainbow, 15, 17. Red, middle, 1, 32, 41, 60, 66, 72, 104, 110, 122, 147, 148. Retina, 21. Rood, modern chromatics, Appendix I. Runge, note to 31, Appendix V.
Shades and tints, 22. Spectrum, solar, 15-18, 27, 28, 87, 88, 92, 95, 96.
Tone, 6.
Value, 3, 8-11, 14, 21-24, 28, 34, 39, 40-43, 54, 76, 78, 82, 94, 105, 120, 132. Scale of, 12, 19, 25, 31, 34, 35, 64, 102, 120, 133. Vermilion, 42, Appendix III. Vertical (neutral) axis, 12, 25, 31, 34, 65, 68. Violet, 90.
Warm and cold colors, 72, 123, note to 136, 137, 138. Wave lengths, 21, 22, 23, 89. White, 12, 16, 17, 22, 31, 41, 54, 55, 65, 87, 91, 92, 99, 119.
Yellow, 1, 32, 54, 104, 136.
The MUNSELL PHOTOMETER
Patented November 19, 1901
A portable, daylight instrument, adapted to laboratory work in general, and of especial service in the comparison of color values. Placed in the course of Optical Measurements at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Price, $50
[Decoration]
IN PREPARATION
A COLOR ATLAS
Also text-books and models specially designed to serve in the education of the color sense