Color problems

Given a certain amount of any color, say normal or spectral red, and wishing to make it look as bright as it can, what color shall we put with it, and how much of that color, to attain our purpose? To answer that question correctly, having in the last chapter studied the harmony possible in what have been called self-tones, or one-color combinations, we will take up contrasts, of which we have several kinds, as follows:

The first point to understand clearly is the law of simultaneous contrast of tone as studied and written about by Chevreul in his elaborate work on color. Church explains this law: “Contrast caused by difference in brightness is commonly called contrast of tone. This kind of contrast may occur alone or it may be associated with contrast of hue and contrast of purity. It will be well to consider first the simplest cases, in which contrast of tone is not accompanied by other contrasts. It is impossible, however, to reduce experiments on tone-contrast to their simplest expressions, because a third element always comes in, namely, the background on which the pair of tones is placed for examination. Whether this background be black, white, gray, or colored, it must necessarily differ in some one direction from one or both the trial pieces, and will therefore itself produce a contrast. To minimize the complication thus introduced we may try an experiment for producing the phenomena of tone-contrast in three ways, using three backgrounds with identical trial pieces on each. We first take two strips of light gray paper, A and A′, in Plate XV, and place them a few inches apart on a large sheet of (white) paper in a good light. We then prepare two similar strips of a considerably darker shade of gray, B and B′, and place them, as shown in the diagram, B′ alongside of A′ and the other the same distance from B′ as A is from A′. On close observation it will be seen that A′ close to B′ appears lighter than A, which lies at some distance, while B appears correspondingly darker than B′. The effect of contrast in enhancing differences of tone may be studied thus: Make such openings, five in number, in a piece of card, as will serve to divide each of the strips A and B into three portions. When viewed through this card, held between the trial pieces and the eye, it will be found that the two adjoining parts of the strip are most contrasted in tone, and the others less so in proportion to their distance from the line of contact. The experiment should now be repeated with a background of black velvet, and again with a background of gray paper lighter in tone than either of the strips. The effect of contrast of tone is still better seen in a series of toned strips placed next each other. In such a case the effect on all the strips save the end ones is that of double contrast. For the second strip or second tone has one side of it made apparently darker by reason of the contiguity of the lighter tone of strip, while the other side seems lighter, owing to the contiguity of the darker tone of strip 3. The general result of these double contrasts is that the whole series or scale of tones gives the appearance of a number of hollows, although, in fact, the apparent hollows are perfectly flat areas of uniform shade. The effect of this experiment is approximately represented in Plate XV, where the real flatness of each tone of the six may be verified by covering up all the others by a card. Tones of any one color instead of gray may be thus employed to illustrate this kind of simultaneous contrast, but its characteristic effect is not seen unless the contrasting tones differ considerably in intensity, increase by regular gradations, and are near each other, or in absolute contact. However, if tones of a color, whether in tints or shades, be used, there is generally a complication introduced, owing to the difficulty of getting a series of such tones which shall be the same in hue.

“This phenomenon of simultaneous contrast of tone of course largely affects ... all drawings in black and white and in monochrome.”

Following upon the law of simultaneous contrast of tone is the law of simultaneous contrast of color formulated by Chevreul, as follows: “In the case where the eye sees at the same time two contiguous (or adjoining) colors, they will appear as dissimilar as possible, both in their optical composition and the height of their tone. We have, then, at the same time simultaneous contrast of color, properly so called, and contrast of tone.” Plate XVI gives the simplest examples of this simultaneous contrast of color, the six spectral colors we have been studying on grounds of white, black, and gray. The colors seem brighter on the black ground and darker on the white, while with the gray the yellow alone is much affected, it seeming to grow brighter. The following plates (Nos. XVII, XVIII, and XIX) give the same coloring, but reversed, the white, black, and gray being in spots or disks on the six colored grounds. By covering the squares on Plate XIX. with the prepared sheet of paper having a square opening just large enough to allow but one of its six divisions to be seen at a time, we shall find that each one of the disks or spots looks, not pure gray, but tinged with another color. This result gives us our first hint of what is called a complementary color. In the case of the gray on blue the gray will appear rusty or yellowish, yellow being the complement of blue; the gray on yellow will appear bluer, blue being the complement of yellow; on the green the gray will look purplish-red, on the orange greenish-blue, on red bluish-green, and on the violet yellowish-green.

Black lace over colors is always affected by them in a similar way. Over yellow, its complement being blue, the lace will look at its best, that is, blackest; over blue, the lace will tend to yellow, and will lose something of its strength and the fulness of its black; over greens, it will partake of their complement, red, and tend to look rusty.

In connection with this tinging of black with the color complementary to that of the color of the ground on which it is placed, Chevreul tells an interesting anecdote. A manufacturer was given black and colored wools with which to make some goods, the pattern to be black on colored grounds. When they were delivered the man who had ordered the goods complained that he had not been given the same black wool, that the blacks were not pure and clear. The manufacturer declared he had used the same wools. A lawsuit followed, in the course of which Chevreul was called upon to give his testimony as to color, when he proved that, according to the law of simultaneous contrast of color, the black wool was the same, but when woven in figures, as for instance, black on blue, the complementary color to blue, namely, yellow, being called up by the eye, made the black look a rusty-brownish black instead of pure clear black. He added that the only way to make the black on blue look pure would be to color it with a little of the blue so as to overcome its yellowish complement.

This delicate impression of the color complementary to the one we are looking at, is called up involuntarily by the eye, of which the nerve fibrils become fatigued by the strong color, and incline to see the extreme opposite or complementary color. The complement of a color may also be called up or produced by looking fixedly at a round spot like that on Plate XX for some time. After a while there may be seen a faint image of its complement on the white paper around it. A still better way of seeing the complement of a color is by looking fixedly for some time at a disk of the selected color placed on white paper (Use Plate XXI); then suddenly slip a sheet of white paper over it, and, continuing to look at the place where it was, the same-sized image of its complement will be seen. Here we have the answer to the question at the beginning of the chapter: bluish-green is the color complementary to spectral red. The eye becomes tired with looking at the red, and the nerve fibrils excited by it incline to see its complement, bluish-green. We can, however, prove this conclusion most correctly by means of what are called Maxwell’s disks. If we cut out a disk or circular piece of cardboard and paint it spectral red, then cut a second one just like it but paint it bluish-green, cutting a slit in both from the edge to the middle so we can slip one into the other as shown in Plate XXII, and then turn them rapidly, the color in both will seem to fade away until, when turning fast enough, we shall see no color at all,—simply a complete disk of light gray. That result proves that spectral red and bluish-green are true complements of each other, because a certain number of parts of red neutralize a certain number of parts of bluish-green. If, instead of using paints and paper we were able to use colored light, the result would be even better; we should have white light as the result of mixing the red and the bluish-green in the right quantities. Pigments are so dull or non-luminous compared with light that with them we can only produce gray, or as it has been called, dark white, or white in shadow. To be quite sure that we have gray, let us add in front of our disks two smaller ones of black and white, and we will find the gray produced by the mixture of the black and white to match perfectly the gray made of spectral red and bluish-green. To measure the quantity of each color necessary, we can put behind the two disks a white disk that is not slit, the circumference of which is divided, as in Plates XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, and XXVI, into one hundred parts. These are plates of the six specified spectral colors with their complements. The numbers give the quantity in one-hundredths of each color. The “number of luminosity” means the quantity of white in proportion to black, in one-hundredths necessary to make the gray of that particular degree.

The Milton-Bradley Company, of Springfield, Massachusetts, make an excellent little machine, including several sets of disks of different sizes and good colors, and a stout frame on which to put the disks, with a crank by which to turn them. It can be set up and screwed on a table, so that any one can make for himself these delightful experiments. Plate XXVII is an illustration of this machine. There is hardly a limit to the number of the other complementary colors that can be made with this set of disks. Study of this set of complementary colors is most important as a foundation for all contrasts. Experiment has also proved that colors have more than one complement.

“Complementary colors of full brightness and purity afford the most striking examples of the effect called contrast. When each of a pair of such colors differs as much as possible from its fellow in hue, but is of the same degree of brightness, it is found, while the brightness of both is enhanced, that the hue of both is unchanged by the close neighborhood or contiguity of the two colors. But if the pair be not truly complementary, or if in brightness or purity one color differ from the other, then such difference will not be seen exactly as it is, but such dissimilarity as exists, whether it be of one hue, of purity, or of brightness, will be increased or enhanced by juxtaposition. This is the primary law of contrast, which embraces three varieties dependent respectively upon differences as to the three constants of color, namely, hue, purity, and brightness (or luminosity). If two adjacent colors differ in brightness, that which is the brighter, or, in other words, the more luminous, will increase in brightness, while the less luminous will have its brightness diminished. If two adjacent colors differ in hue, such difference will be increased, each hue tending to change as if it had been mixed with the complementary of the other. In the case of complementaries no increase of difference in hue is, however, possible.”^[6]

Plate XXVIII shows us the six spectral colors with their complements, not in quantity, but as a table. After thorough study of this table of first and simplest contrasts, the practical advantage of Plates XXII to XXVI will be apparent. To make it easier we give Plate XXIX, which shows the same set of complements. Here they are arranged in a circle in which each color is opposite its own complement. This circle leads us from the strongest contrasts of complements to lesser contrasts. This should also be studied till it can be remembered for future reference. Being in simple spectral colors, it is easier than the more numerous tints of shades of neutralized colors, and is also a key for understanding and classifying them. It is well here to note how many complements are green or greenish in hue.

Concerning the law of simultaneous contrast, with regard more especially to lesser contrasts, Rood says: “When any two colors of the chromatic circle are brought into competition or contrasted, the effect produced is apparently to move them both farther apart. In the case, for example, of orange and yellow, the orange is moved toward the red, and assumes the appearance of reddish-orange; the yellow moves toward the green, and appears for the time to be greenish-yellow. Colors which are complementary are already as far apart in the chromatic circle as possible; hence they are not changed in hue, but merely appear more brilliant and saturated.” Plate XXX will be found of great assistance in comparing pairs of colors with each other. Here we have a diagram of a chromatic circle. By placing over it the transparent color screen found at the end of the book, and moving it slowly in the same direction, it will be seen that red when contrasted with greenish-blue causes this last color to move away from the centre of the circle in a straight line; hence, as the new point is on the same diameter, but farther from the centre, we know that the greenish-blue is not made more or less blue or green, but is simply caused to appear more saturated or brilliant. The new point for the red lies also on the same diameter, but is nearer the centre of the circle; that is, the color remains red, but appears duller or less saturated. Experience confirms this. If a considerable number of pieces of red cloth, for example, are examined in succession, the last one will appear duller and inferior in brilliancy to the others, but it will still appear red. Proceeding with the examination of the effects produced on the other colors, we find that the orange has been moved toward yellow and also toward the centre of the circle; hence our diagram tells us that red, when put into competition with orange, causes the latter to appear more yellowish and at the same time less intense. So we can go on comparing one color with another and find out the effect of each by moving the one circle over the other in different directions, always finding that the complements as moved away from each other only grow more brilliant but more changing in color. Church gives us a list of the changes due to the principal pairs of lesser contrasts from the observations of Chevreul, Rood, etc., as follows:

(It may be remarked that this table of changes as here given is more easily understood than in its original form as given by Church.)

“It must not be imagined that the changes enumerated in the above table are at all equal to one another in amount. We have, indeed, always some change, but it varies much in the case of different pairs. When the chromatic interval (on the color-circle) is small, then the change of hue, in virtue of simultaneous contrast, is large; when the interval is large the change of hue is slight, but it is accompanied by change of brightness; when the interval is as large as possible there is no change of hue, but the brightness of both hues is increased.”

After simultaneous contrasts Chevreul gives us successive contrasts, which latter “may be observed when we tire one set of retinal fibrils by gazing for some time on a surface of a very decided color and brightness. Afterward, on looking at a colorless surface of white, gray, or black, it will be found to be tinctured with the complementary of the first color.” If we stare at a piece of bright red paper and then look at white paper we will see blue-green, the complement of the red. So, if we look at a series of pieces of red cloth the first will appear the brightest, the second less so, the third still less, but if the eye is rested by looking at a piece of bluish-green cloth the red will then be seen of its original brightness. When a black spot laid on red cloth is looked at steadily for some time, then is taken suddenly away, the place where the black spot was will appear to be of a brighter red than that around it on account of the less fatigue there has been to that part of the retina. A salesman who understood complementary colors could use this law of successive contrasts with great effect in showing goods.

Still another form of contrast is called mixed contrast. “The distinction of simultaneous and successive contrast renders it easy to comprehend a phenomenon which we may call mixed contrast; because it results from the fact that the eye, having seen for a time a certain color, acquires an aptitude to see for another period the complementary of that color and also a new color, presented to it by an exterior object; the sensation then perceived is that which results from this new color and the complementary of the first. The following is a very simple method of observing this mixed contrast: One eye being closed, the right for instance, let the left eye regard fixedly a piece of paper of the color A; when this color appears dimmed, immediately direct the eye upon a sheet of paper colored B; then we have the impression which results from the mixture of this color B with the complementary color, C, of the color A. To be satisfied of this mixed impression it is sufficient to close the left eye, and to look at the color B with the right: not only is the impression that produced by the color B, but it may appear modified in a direction contrary to the mixed impression C + B, or, what comes to the same thing, it appears to be more A + B.”^[7]

That the complementary of a color exists in its shadow may be seen by watching a stretch of snow when the sun is hidden by a cloud: the snow is white, the shadow gray. When the cloud passes away, the light on the snow makes it look yellow; the shadow will also be seen to be more or less blue as the atmosphere is more or less clear and free from the moisture which veils the sunlight. The same result in a greater or less degree exists in all shadows, which shows how useful study of the complementary colors is for painters.

The purple or violet shadows of the “impressionists” are in many cases exaggerations. On snow, dust, or sand, violet shadows are to be found in certain conditions of the atmosphere, but “impressionists” often do not seem to take into sufficient account the color called by artists “local color” of the substance or material on which the shadow is thrown, or the color of the sky reflected in the shadow. A true colorist detects these subtle varieties. An artist who has not a fine eye for color uses the pure colors given by scientists, thus making the crude, harsh pictures so much criticised. They are true to a great extent scientifically, but are cold and glaring, and without the true spirit of nature.

In studying the complements of these six spectral hues we come across the theory that because a color and its complement together make white, therefore they must prove to be an agreeable harmony. Now, is that true? At first sight we answer, No. We do know that if we wish to make a color as brilliant as possible, we must add to it its complement. Under certain circumstances that may give us a good result, but artistic taste declares that a pure spectral color and its complement make a combination so strong and vivid as almost to amount to crudeness, and to jar on a sensitive eye. Still, the theory that complementary colors make a true and perfect harmony is well considered in the following extract from Eastlake:

“Every treatise on the harmonious combination of colors contains the diagram of the chromatic circle more or less elaborately constructed. These diagrams, if intended to exhibit the contrasts produced by the action and reaction of the retina, have one common defect. The opposite colors are made equal in intensity; whereas the complemental color pictured on the retina is always less vivid, and always darker or lighter than the original color. This variety undoubtedly accords more with harmonious effects in painting.

“The opposition of two pure hues of equal intensity, differing only in the abstract quality of color, would immediately be pronounced crude and inharmonious. It would not, however, be strictly correct to say that such a contrast is too violent; on the contrary, it appears the contrast is not carried far enough, for though differing in color, the two hues may be exactly similar in purity and intensity. Complete contrast, on the other hand, supposes dissimilarity in all respects. In addition to the mere difference of hue, the eye, it seems, requires difference in the lightness or darkness of the hue. The spectrum of a color relieved as a dark on a light ground is a light color on a dark ground, and vice versa. Thus, if we look at a bright red wafer on the whitish surface, the complemental image will be still lighter than the white surface; if the same wafer is placed on a black surface the complemental image will be still darker. The color of both these spectra may be called greenish (bluish-green), but it is evident that a color must be scarcely appreciable as such, if it is lighter than white and darker than black. It is, however, to be remarked, that the white surface round the light greenish image seems tinged with a reddish hue, and the black surface round the dark image becomes slightly illuminated with the same color, thus in both cases assisting to render the image apparent.

“The difficulty or impossibility of describing degrees of color in words has also had a tendency to mislead, by conveying the idea of more positive hues than the physiological contrast warrants. Thus, supposing scarlet to be relieved as a dark, the complemental color is so light in degree and so faint in color that it should be called a pearly gray; whereas the theorists, looking at the quality of color abstractedly, would call it a green-blue, and the diagram would falsely present such a hue equal in intensity to scarlet, or as nearly equal as possible.

“Even the difference of mass which good taste requires may be suggested by the physiological phenomena, for unless the complemental image is suffered to fall on a surface precisely as near to the eye as that on which the original color was displayed, it appears larger or smaller than the original object, and this in a rapidly increasing proportion. Lastly, the shape itself soon becomes changed. That vivid color demands the comparative absence of color, either on a lighter or darker scale, as its contrast, may be inferred again from the fact that bright colorless objects produce strongly colored spectra. In darkness the spectrum, which is first white, or nearly white, is followed by red; in light, the spectrum, which is first black, is followed by green. All color, as the author observes, is to be considered as half light, inasmuch as it is in every case lighter than black and darker than white. Hence no contrast of color with color, or even of color with black or white, can be so great (as regards lightness or darkness) as the contrast of black and white, or dark and light abstractedly. This distinction between the differences of degree and the differences of kind is important, since a just application of contrast in color may be counteracted by an undue difference in lightness or darkness. The mere contrast of color is happily employed in some of Guido’s lighter pictures, but if intense dark had been opposed to his delicate carnations, their comparative whiteness would have been unpleasantly apparent. On the other hand, the flesh-color in Giorgione, Sebastian del Piombo (his best imitator), and Titian, was sometimes so extremely glowing that the deepest colors and black were indispensable accompaniments. The manner of Titian, as distinguished from his imitation of Giorgione, is golden rather than fiery, and his biographers are quite correct in saying that he was fond of opposing red (lake) and blue to his flesh. The correspondence of these contrasts with the physiological phenomena will be immediately apparent, while the occasional practice of Rubens in opposing bright red to a still cooler flesh-color will be seen to be equally consistent....

“It was before observed that the description of colors in words may often convey ideas of too positive a nature, and it may be remarked generally that the colors employed by the great masters are, in their ultimate effect, more or less subdued or broken. The physiological contrasts are, however, still applicable in the most comparatively neutral scale.”

Chevreul gives us in his book, Colour (a work published in 1835, which has gone through many editions and translations, having finally been edited and republished in 1889 by his son), an elaborate system of color contrasts based upon the older theory of three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. There followed upon this in 1890 one by Charles La Couture, Répertoire Chromatique, containing an ingenious and beautiful system of color scales also founded upon the Brewster theory of red, yellow, and blue as primary colors. Of these color charts it has been well said that they are only able to display the effects, not of mixing colored light, but colored pigments.

The following are rules to be used in regard to contrasting colors:

Rule I.—A pair of complementary colors in their pure spectral tones in the proportions in which they neutralize or complement each other, as in Plates XXII to XXVI, should only be used if you wish to produce a bold, striking, perhaps harsh effect; or if you wish to create a focus in your picture, your room, or your decoration. In the latter case it will be well to soften the effect (especially in the case of a picture) by repeating the same colors in tints or shades in some other part of the work.

Rule II.—Harmony of contrast exists only in proportion to the changes in quality or quantity in equal portions of pure spectral tones.

Rule III.—The more neutral you make the tint or shade of one of the pair of complements, so much the more may you add to its quantity. For instance, a small quantity of bright spectral red will balance a large quantity of pale blue-green.

Rule IV.—By using two or more tints, or shades and tints, of one of the pair of complements, so much the finer becomes the harmony. The artist Turner sent to an exhibition of the Royal Academy in England a marine which was accepted and hung, but which, being a quiet picture consisting mainly of pale, grayish sea-greens, attracted little attention. On varnishing day, however, he went to the Academy and painted in the foreground of his picture a scarlet buoy, when to the surprise of every one, owing to the correct balance of the quality and quantity of his complementary contrast, the scarlet and blue-green so intensified each other that the picture became a striking one, dulling the others around it and drawing constant admiration.

From a dinner table set out at a flower show in the Madison Square Garden, which took a first prize, Plate XXXI is taken. It was a harmony of yellow and blue.

1.

Yellow chrysanthemums.

2.

Yellow lamp-shades.

3.

Yellow satin centrepiece.

4.

Yellow candies.

5.

Yellow candies.

6.

Yellow candies.

7.

Yellow-brown almonds.

8.

Gold ornament on glass, china, and candies.

9.

Dark purple-blue grapes.

In this case some of the yellow was in pure spectral tones, the blue very strong, dark, and neutralized.

Rule VI.—The finest harmony of contrast will be found where tints and shades of both the pair of complements can be combined. Then a small amount of both in spectral tones may be introduced to give accent to the rest. Plate XXXII gives a blue and yellow harmony taken from an English china cup composed of two blues and two yellows, both neutral. The ground, being of a pale tint of yellow, is greater in quantity according to Rule III. The dainty pattern painted on it is in the two blues; the delicate stems holding and uniting the conventional leaves and flowers are of brown (or dark yellow). The brown, being the darkest color, is the smallest in quantity, as the harmony is intended to be light and cheerful.

Harmonies in blue and yellow have been used with great success in old decoration, when blended, modified, and interchanged with each other, and are one of the most useful combinations of colors that can be made. They are largely used in Italian and Spanish tiles and other porcelains. They are complementary colors strongly opposed to each other, but the reason for their being more agreeable than other pairs of complements seems to arise from the fact that one, the yellow, is so much more luminous (or lighter) than the other that it affords a greater contrast than appears in the other pairs of complements.

Rule VII.—Even pure spectral colors may be used with good effect by blending them in small portions, as in what are technically called diaper patterns.

We have still a further power of adding to our harmony of contrasts by the use of different materials, such as paper, paint, plaster, silk, satin, velvet, plush, and metals, in which the variety of surfaces gives an infinite number of tones, absorbing and reflecting, etc. These will be considered in the chapter on color-harmonies, and seem really inexhaustible. In that chapter is given a list of pairs of the lesser contrasting colors, such as have been found by observation of historic color to be the most agreeable to the eye.