Color Value Part 6

116. The use of arches should be studied. A s.p.a.ce that is arched looks wider than it actually is, for the eye unconsciously follows the lines of the arch, and a distance or width effect is the result. The same s.p.a.ce treated with a straight line is quickly bridged. The same s.p.a.ce treated with lines that come to an angle looks narrower, for the reason that the eye becomes focused by the apex of the angle, and a height effect, not a breadth effect, is the result. (See page 57.)

117. This illusion is best shown in the ill.u.s.trations of the parallel lines that are crossed diagonally, with the result that the lines no longer look parallel because of the angles. Nevertheless, they are parallel, and the lines running diagonally at the bottom of this page are also parallel.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

We present two practical ill.u.s.trations of illusion in the use of lines.

(See -- 112.) They represent the side-walls of two rooms of the same dimensions, but showing apparently different proportions, the perpendicular lines making the side-wall look higher and the horizontal lines making the side-wall look lower. (See page 59.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ill.u.s.tration A.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ill.u.s.tration B. (See -- 113.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The length of the wall s.p.a.ce is shortened, moreover, by the perpendicular lines and lengthened by the horizontal lines.

118. No period expresses more clearly the joy of curves as opposed to the severity of straight lines than that voluptuous period of Louis XV known as Rococo. It was a profligate era, an era of pleasure, and the appended ill.u.s.tration of part of a frieze is in no way exaggerated, but a true example of a common expression. (See page 60.)

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

119. Distinct perpendicular lines give height effect, but they also narrow the apparent width of a wall s.p.a.ce. It is best to have such line effects indistinct unless they appear as in the ill.u.s.tration on page 63, where they are intended to reduce the breadth effect of the pattern and neutralize a squat tendency.

Indistinct perpendiculars give height effect, and do not reduce the wall width.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (See -- 111.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Perpendicular lines, giving height effect.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Perpendicular lines, giving height effect.]

-COLOR TERMS-

120. In the study of color and its application authorities differ so materially that it is not only impossible to reconcile their theories, but the different terms used to express color thought create inextricable confusion.

121. One authority fixes the neutrals as being black, gray and white; another regards them as those hues or tones which lack definite color, like quaternaries. Authorities differ, moreover, upon even the fundamental principles. Chevreuil selects red, yellow and blue as the primaries; Dr. Thomas Young selects red, green and violet. Helmholtz selects carmine, pale green and blue-violet; Maxwell scarlet red, emerald green and blue-violet; Professor Rood agrees with Maxwell; Professor Church, of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, regards the primaries as red, green and blue; George Hurst, the English authority, fixes upon red, yellow and blue, the Brewsterian theory.

122. One must remember always in studying color that we are treating with the material, not with the illusion. We are dealing with pigments, not with prismatic phenomena, and it must be obvious that the only three primary colors that can be used in a way to produce all other colors are red, yellow and blue.

123. Whatever may be the spectrum theories of Sir Isaac Newton, Young or Helmholtz, for practical reasons we prefer to follow an authority as eminent as Chevreuil, for years the head of the National Gobelin Works of France, and a man experienced in the practice as well as the theory of color. Any effort to fix the character of color and describe it by periods and epochs will always prove unsatisfactory, for the reason that terms and expressions have changed with every period since the Egyptian, 4000 B.C.

124. We think we know purple until we discover that the purple of royalty, the ermine and purple, the purple of the cardinals' robes, frequently approximated what we now call carmine. Royal purple and Venetian blue are mere trade terms. Practical men in the purchase of things decorative soon discover that color terms convey only individual impressions and no distinctive qualities that may be relied upon; so that any effort to fix the color value by periods would be futile. We may a.s.sume that in the age of oak, mahogany, white and gold or walnut furniture, the fabric and wall colors harmonized with the wood colors, and to that degree we may fix the period character of color. The moment that the tone of the woodwork or the light conditions varied, color character varied also.

125. We must also bear well in mind that colors which have come down to us as examples of ancient times have been subjected to the changing influences of centuries, and have faded and altered. The colors on the walls of the historic rooms of European palaces have greatly altered.

The flat reds and the deadish blues of the Pompeiian frescoes have been altered by chemical action during the 1,850 years' burial under the lava of Vesuvius. We are not justified in judging of the colors of A.D. 79 by the restoration-examples in 1900. Hence the mere expressions Pompeiian red, Pompeiian blue, can convey no definite, positive meaning.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1.]

-COLOR VOCABULARY-

126. In music, a tone which is formed by a certain number of vibrations per second is the same the world over, and each and every tone has a name; but in color no such standards exist. People have attempted to formulate a system by denominating the primary colors, red, yellow and blue, respectively as R, Y and B, and the combinations of these colors as combinations of letters. For example, red, with varying degrees of yellow added, is denominated by the letters R R O, or R O R, or O O R.

This system tends to confusion, and is inadequate to express tints and shades. Various other systems have been devised. Color charts have been made, and in each system arbitrary names have been a.s.signed, so that each color may be known by one of several names. The difficulty of insuring accuracy under these circ.u.mstances becomes very evident.

127. In discussing color combinations, one is usually confused because the subject is not a tangible expression that can be grasped like the sound of a note in music. With color charts, every maker has a standard of his own and the term "red" may mean anything within a wide range; a yellow-red or a blue-red, the yellow-red perhaps being cherry, the blue-red perhaps being carmine. An appreciation of the Harmonies of Contrast or Harmonies of a.n.a.logy or Relationship is accompanied by great confusion because of this lack of standardization.

128. There is only one true standard of color, and that is the standard as shown in the prism, and expressed by the spectrum. It is within the province of any man to determine the proper relationship of color if he starts with the chart we here present. We fix definitely the three primary and the three secondary colors, the primaries, red, yellow and blue, being those indicated by the heavy black lines; the secondaries, orange, green and violet, being indicated by the broad stipple lines.

All other lines are the tertiary or quaternary colors.

If we have clearly in our minds the appearance of the normal red and yellow, and clearly in our minds the orange that is made up by combining the two, we ought to be able to fix in our imagination the colors that come midway between the red and the orange, or the colors that come nearer the red or nearer the orange. Let us a.s.sume we are to select colors in the harmony of _contrast_. Take a ruler and lay across the chart and the contrasting colors are always opposite; the direct contrast of red is green because green is composed of the other two primary colors, yellow and blue; the contrast of blue is orange because orange is a combination of the other two primaries, yellow and red; the contrast of yellow is violet, a combination of blue and red.

Now, to determine the niceties of distinction, let us take a red that is a little off shade, a little yellowish; one must determine in the mind's eye about how much yellow there is in it and, to determine the true contrast, carry your line across from the point which you think is represented by the yellowish and you find that it is green with a little blue added, or bluish-green.

129. One must also determine the scale of color. The parallel circular lines on the chart designate four scales, or four grades, of each color, growing lighter by adding white, to the center; as you add more and more white the tint becomes more and more light. In determining contrast, be careful to stick to your scale. Contrasts, to be in harmony, must be colors of the same scale.

130. Harmony of a.n.a.logy or relationship is clearly expressed in the chart. The family relations of red are the things which go with red. We may have a harmony of a.n.a.logy in violet which includes the relations of red and blue. We must not attempt to carry the family relationship too far. There is a wide range of variety in these combinations of a.n.a.logy because they may include not only all scales of each color from the darkest tones to the lightest tints but they include tertiaries and quaternaries.

Each man must establish his own standard, and by establishing it he forms unconsciously a very comprehensive understanding of color. It has never been possible to print a true colored chart because no two copies of the sheet off the press would be alike. A little more ink or a little less ink, or a little lighter or a little heavier impression, changes the values.

The chart ill.u.s.trates contrasts of all of the primaries and secondary colors and the broken colors or hues. In the same way the tertiary or quaternary colors may be arranged, but for convenience we show the contrasts as follows:

RUSSET:

Tertiary, 32 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue 31 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 17 parts Blue 30 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 18 parts Blue 29 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 19 parts Blue 28 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 20 parts Blue 27 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 21 parts Blue 26 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 22 parts Blue 25 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 23 parts Blue

SLATE:

Tertiary, 32 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow 31 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 17 parts Yellow 30 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 18 parts Yellow 29 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 19 parts Yellow 28 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 20 parts Yellow 27 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 21 parts Yellow 26 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 22 parts Yellow 25 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 23 parts Yellow

CITRINE:

Tertiary, 32 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 16 parts Red 31 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 17 parts Red 30 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 18 parts Red 29 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 19 parts Red 28 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 20 parts Red 27 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 21 parts Red 26 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 22 parts Red 25 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 23 parts Red

SAGE:

Quaternary, 24 parts Blue, 16 parts Red, 24 parts Yellow 25 parts Yellow, 23 parts Blue, 16 parts Red 26 parts Yellow, 22 parts Blue, 16 parts Red 27 parts Yellow, 21 parts Blue, 16 parts Red 28 parts Yellow, 20 parts Blue, 16 parts Red 29 parts Yellow, 19 parts Blue, 16 parts Red 30 parts Yellow, 18 parts Blue, 16 parts Red 31 parts Yellow, 17 parts Blue, 16 parts Red

BUFF:

Quaternary, 24 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue, 24 parts Red 25 parts Red, 23 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue 26 parts Red, 22 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue 27 parts Red, 21 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue 28 parts Red, 20 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue 29 parts Red, 19 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue 30 parts Red, 18 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue 31 parts Red, 17 parts Yellow, 16 parts Blue

PLUM:

Quaternary, 24 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow, 24 parts Blue 25 parts Blue, 23 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow 26 parts Blue, 22 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow 27 parts Blue, 21 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow 28 parts Blue, 20 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow 29 parts Blue, 19 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow 30 parts Blue, 18 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow 31 parts Blue, 17 parts Red, 16 parts Yellow