CHAPTER VII
NATURE COLOR
“And you, painter, who are desirous of great practice, understand that if you do not rest it on the good foundation of Nature, you will labor with little honor and less profit; and if you do it on a good ground, your works will be many and good, to your great honor and advantage.
“A painter ought to study universal Nature, and reason much within himself on all he sees, making use of the most excellent parts that compose the species of every object before him. His mind will by this method be like a mirror, reflecting truly every object placed before it, and become, as it were, a second nature.”
From the Treatise on Painting, by Leonardo da Vinci, we copy the above passages. May they serve as an introduction to the next branch of our color study, and prove a stimulus of the highest kind not only to painters, but to other artists. This final step in our study leads us to Nature, a step easy to make, but once made, it places us in a school as vast as it is great, and in one which we should never leave. Until our attention is called to it, we are unconscious what apparently unpromising material may yield new and beautiful motives for color-harmonies.
“We do not sufficiently study from nature; we ought to draw and study vegetable forms, shells, fishes, birds, beasts. A continual use of your notebook should enable you to lay up an inexhaustible store of artistic materials and suggestions.... Then, again, the study of the arrangement of color of natural objects is almost entirely ignored; yet how pregnant would it be with the most valuable and original suggestions. There is hardly anything in nature that is not perfect in color. A dead sparrow would enable you to arrange the marquetrie of a cabinet with faultless harmony. Then, again, the varied tints of any color in light, shade, and half tint are always harmonious. The gradations of color in a flower, if properly studied, would teach a lady to dress with a taste that would be the envy of her sex. That dress is not, more than it is, the study and recognized province of an artist, is a matter of wonder.”[12]
Following closely upon this advice of Mr. Moody, an artist tells us that in Algiers he has seen the Arab girls working the beautiful embroideries so much admired with boxes of butterflies beside them, that from their harmonious blending of colors they may gain fresh enthusiasm and inspiration for their work. Those who are not privileged to go to foreign lands in search of color motives can find them in our own country, and those who can leave the city’s walls for but a day’s holiday may find in the suburbs much that is new and helpful. Why not make excursions for the purpose? A color hunt would surely be as cheap and harmless as it would be enjoyable and helpful. In New York City itself, the Museum of Natural History holds case upon case of birds, butterflies, shells, and minerals that can give an infinite number of novel motives, the florists’ shops contain many more, and, if one keeps his eyes about him, even in the street he may meet with good and unexpected combinations, as, for instance, Plate C, which is from the flange of a propeller, of which the discoloration of the metal gave a fine color motive.
The Japanese have always been distinguished for their intense sympathy with nature, and we find that a large part of the enjoyment of their lives the year round comes from their constant study and observation of nature, the result, of course, showing itself in their art.
Condor says, in The Flowers of Japan, “Flower-viewing excursions, together with such pastimes as shell-gathering, mushroom-picking, and moon-viewing, form the favorite occupations of the holiday seeker throughout the year,” and “Snow-viewing is included as one of the flower festivals of the year.”
One caution must be given to those looking to nature for color motives, which is this: to make allowance for the modifications of form, contrast, composition, gradation, and atmosphere which may deceive us as to the true color of our object. It can be more truly judged by being looked at through a card with an opening in it, which thus isolates it from the adjoining colors. “We should be cautious in basing our conclusions even on observations made directly from nature itself; for here our judgment is liable to be warped by the presence of beautiful form, good composition, exquisite gradation, and high luminosity.”[13] A few plates made directly from nature are given, not for the sake of the imitation, but to suggest some of the many directions in which to look for fresh inspiration in color-designing.
Students in art and science are constantly bidden to go to nature for the abundant secrets she is ready to reveal to those who seek and prize them, and why should not workers in simpler, if not lower, occupations, be sent to the same source, which is so bountiful as to contain something for every one, and so, profiting by her fulness, learn at the same time to find contentment and joy in their work?