Colour Theory research

Out of the 17 colour theories from the two texts Johannes Itten – The Elements of Colour and Josef Albers – Interaction of Colour (across which there is some overlap), I have to select a minimum of three to research and write 500 word descriptions for. I started by looking over all of the theories online and skim reading sections of the books to decide on my fields of interest. 

The first theory I picked out was vibrating boundaries. The concept says that when complementary colours are placed on top of each other they emphasise each other and tend to 'vibrate'. This is because the lines at which the bold colours meet merge creating a third colour in the grey area that the eye cannot understand. Josef Alber said: "

When arranged in a certain pattern the highly contrasting colours can give the illusion of dimension and depth whilst also vibrating as unitary lines 

During some initial experimentation with my colour and its complimentary I found out a few visual tricks that can be done using vibrating boundaries. Initially I didn't expect the two colours to work very well due to their relative dullness, because in research the vibrating colour alway seemed to be really vibrant and juxtapose the darker looking background. However it quickly became apparent that this would not really be an issue and some vibrating boundaries would be visible. The two pictured experimentations are screen shots so the effect is slightly lessened. 

As can be observed in the top (green on pink) experimentation, in line work the eye is drawn to the smallest most central shape that does not overlap. This allows for the shapes around it to move slightly in the viewers peripheral vision. I will attempt to build on this in further experimentation. 

Another attribute I noticed was how the negative space of colours where the contrast is more intense almost changes colour and is highlighted. I attempted to visually represent this my simply cutting out all of the internal negative spaces of the two words. 

Rotating each letter my 5 degrees alternatively, does not further or lessen the effect due to its nature. However it does help visually depict the word further despite being maybe too obvious.




In an attempt to carry on along the same vein of optical illusions/tricks of the eye I decided to conduct research into Bezold effect. The effect describes a form of optical mixture in which the eye perceives two or more colours, simultaneously merging them into one new colour. The two original colours now cannot be seen as part of the whole image and the new colour is the optical mixture. The effect depends on size of the colours and distance of the viewer as explained my Josef Albers in his book - the interaction of colour. Albers talks about the application of optical mixture to impressionist painting and the use of the halftone process and various other forms of photomechanical reproduction techniques. 

Wilhelm von Bezold (1837–1907), discovered that a colour may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colours. When small areas of colour are interspersed. An assimilation effect called the von Bezold spreading effect, similar to spatial colour mixing, is achieved. The opposite effect is called colour contrast and is observed when large areas of colours are placed adjacent to each other.

On the face of it the Bezold effect seems very similar to simultaneous contrast as mentioned in Johannes Ittens - The Elements of Colour. Identified by Michel Eugène Chevreul simultaneous contrast refers to the manner in which the colours of two different objects affect each other. The example given my Ittens involved placing small neutral grey squares on top of larger pure colour squares that matched the grey square in brilliance. Each grey square appears to be tinged my the background. At the bottom of the diagram bellow the orange bar features three squares of slightly different hues, resulting in the first slightly complimentary tinged square having the most simultaneous contrast, the second neutral square suffering simultaneous modification and the final orangey one fails to be modified. 



There is one stark difference between the Bezold effect and simultaneous contrast. In simultaneous contrast, a colour takes on the hue and brightness of its surrounding colours. In the Bezold Effect, a coloured region changes its colour depending on the colours that encircle it. Unlike its counterpart, the Bezold Effect only works under certain circumstances. 








For my final research I decided to look into subjective timbre. Subjective timbre is a concept developed by Johannes Ittens when he was teaching a painting class in 1928. He assigned 'harmonic' colours to the class as part of an exercise only for them to challenge the harmonic label attributed to the colours saying they were "unpleasant and discordant". The students were allowed to choose their own pallets and each of them produced very different hues proving that everyone has their own private perception of colour harmony. Ittens named the findings 'subjective colour' as a representation of the influence of subjective opinion on pallet choice. Ittens talked about the influence of trends, complimentary colours and pallets the painter thinks they should paint on their own free will and how personality could be conveyed through colour choice. He discussed the need for freedom in education, allowing for innovation and a progressive movement. 

"If subjective timbre is significant of a persons inner being, then much of his mode of thought, feeling and action can be inferred from his colour combinations. Intrinsic constitution and structure are reflected in the colours, which are generated by dispersion and filtration of the white light of life and by electromagnetic vibrations in the psychophysiological medium of the individual."