Colour Observed

187 Pages·1980·26.649 MB·English

by  Enid Verity (auth.)

Colour Observed
To Terence Verity, in gratitude
Colour Observed
Enid Verity
M
© Enid Verity 1980
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission
First published 1980 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in Delhi Dublin
Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melbourne
New York Singapore and Tokyo
Filmsetby Vantage Photosetting Co. Ltd.,
Southampton and London
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Verity, Enid
Colour observed.
1. Colour
I. Title
535.6 QC495
ISBN 978-0-333-30665-9 ISBN 978-1-349-16373-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16373-1
This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book
Agreement
Contents
Foreword
VI
Acknowledgements vii
1 Understanding Colour 1
2 Classifying Colour 4
3 Colorants 19
4 Colour and Light 32
5 Biological Colour 65
6 Colour and the Eye 81
7 Colour and the Mind 96
8 Colour-Science and Art 121
9 Colour and Environment 149
References and Bibliography 155
Name Index 163
Subject Index 166
Foreword
byProfessorW. D. Wright
In searching for a word or a phrase to describe Colour Observed, I found myself
caught up in the meshes of colour terminology. For Enid Verity wields her pen as
an artist wields his brush, painting a fascinating picture of almost every aspect of
colour. And I think it is no exaggeration to describe this picture as 'brilliant'. She is
clearly in love with her subject and takes delight in reminding us about the many
and varied uses to which colour has been put- from primitive man using colour to
symbolise his tribal relationships, to modem man exploring space and planting his
flags on the moon. What a relief, too, to read a book that does not set out to prove
anything, still less to advocate some new theory of colour perception.
Is this a book for the general reader or the colour specialist? Surely for both.
Certainly the specialist, whether artist, scientist or technologist, ought to read it if
he wi!!hes to become a 'whole' colour man. At the same time, there is nothing to
scare the general reader away. Quite the contrary, in fact, for wherever he opens
the book, he will find the subject-matter of the chapter being presented in an easy
style which immediately holds his attention.
This is a very enjoyable as well as a very rewarding book to read and it is a
privilege to have been invited to write the Foreword.
David Wright
Acknowledgements
The Art Institute of Chicago for figure 8.10.
The British Museum, London, for figure 8. 7.
Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, West Germany, and Science Photo Library, London, for
the colour photograph of a flame.
Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, for the colour photograph of Final Study
for 'Le Chahut' by Georges Seurat.
Eric de Mare, for the colour photographs of natural and painted wood, natural
and dyed wool, medieval heraldry, ochre landscape in Provence.
Gerald Duckworth and Co Ltd for figures 5.3 and 5.4 and for extracts from
Illusion in Nature and Art(1973) edited by R. L. Gregory and J. Gombrich.
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, for figure 2.17.
Gallerie dell' Accademia, Venice, for the colour photograph of Madonna and
Child by Paolo Veneziano. Photograph by Eric de Mare.
Margaret B. Halstead for extracts from her paper 'Colour Rendering Past,
Present and Future' published by Adam Hilger Ltd in Colour: Proceedings of the
Congress of the International Colour Association, 1977.
Adam HilgerLtdforfigures 2.13-2.15, 4.5, 6.3 and 6.4from The Measurement of
Colour by W. D. Wright.
Macmillan Education for figure 5.5 from Common Reef Fishes by K. R. Bock.
John Mattock of Oxford for the colour photograph of a rose.
Munsell Color, Baltimore, USA, and Tintometer Ltd, Salisbury, UK, for figure
2.9.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, for figure 8.9.
The Trustees, The National Gallery, London, for the colour photograph of
Michelangelo's Madonna and Child with the Infant Baptist and Angels.
Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg, and B. T. Batsford Ltd, London, for diagrams
2.1-2.8 and 2.10 from Colour Matching and Mixing (1970) by A. Hickethier,
published in the USA by Van Nostrand Reinhold Co under the title Color Mixing
by Numbers.
Oxford University Press for figures 4.4, 4.6 and 7.4 from Colour Technology by
F. A. Taylor.
Penguin Books Ltd for extracts from Colour Photography by Eric de Mare.
Mr Ronald Sheridan for the colour photograph of the Dome of the Rock.
Miss Bridget Riley for permission to reproduce her painting Fall (figure 7.3).
Studio Vista for extracts from Colour for Architecture edited by T. Porter and
B. Mikellides.
The Tate Gallery, London, for figures 7.3, 8.8 and the colour photograph of
Turner's Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory)- The Morning after the Deluge
(Photograph by John Webb).
Van Nostrand Reinhold Co for figures 2.11, 7.1, 8.1 and 8.3-8.6 from History of
Color in Painting by Faber Birren (1965).
The Victoria and Albert Museum for the colour photograph of a garden design on
a Persian carpet.
George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd for figures 4.1, 6.1, 6.2 and 7.2 from Eye
and Brain by Richard Gregory.
Mr Robert Wilson for figure 9.1 from Roses and Castles, published by the
Waterways Museum.
Winsor and Newton Ltd for figure 2.12 from Colour Science by W. Ostwald,
translated by the late J. Scott Taylor, and figure 3.2 from Brief History of Winsor
and Newton.
Figures 3.1, 5.1, 5.6, 9.2 and 9.3 were drawn by the author.
The author would like to thank the following for commenting on different parts of
the book: Frank Hill, for the chapter on colour and light; Allan Jones, for the
chapter on biological colour; Keith Maclaren, for the chapter on colorants;
Pamela Tudor-Craig, for the chapter on colour-science and art; and Eric de Mare,
for encouragement and proof-reading.
1
Understanding Colour
In one way or another, everyone is interested in colour. It often arouses emotional
reactions-sometimes powerful ones-yet information about colour remains
mostly specialised, and is very rarely comprehensive. I have tried here to provide
widely based information on a subject which, although it is of such universal
importance, is seriously neglected in general education.
There are signs that the present attitude to colour is changing. After all, almost
no technique is more important to science than colour measurement, which has so
enormously extended the range of scientific enquiry and application that it is
changing the lives of this generation with extraordinary rapidity. Colour television
is only one of such transforming influences, the technology for which is wholly
dependent upon the science of colour that has been built up gradually over the last
three or four centuries.
Apart from abstract hypotheses on the structure of the universe based on
spectrographic examination of the stars, and the analysis of atomic matter in
which colour science also plays a role, the results of colour technology are directly
affecting the man-made environment in ways that intelligent observers cannot
ignore. Colour technology governs, for instance, the world of fashion, from the
computation of colour trends to the production of dyes and pigments and the
chemical research it involves. The complex world of communications and enter
tainment is also dependent on the technical and aesthetic control of colour and
light. Psychologists and anthropologists are aware of some of the psychological
implications of colour symbolism in fashion and the arts.
The production of food is very much assisted by colour measurement in stock
farming, fishing, agriculture, horticulture and forestry, which all need colour
technology both for quality control and biochemical investigation. More colorants
are used in food production than in the textile industry! Commerce and industry
are using the technical application of colour science at many levels of research,
production and marketing. The building industry, one barometer of technical
achievement in society, is, in a competitive market, increasingly using colour
technology in the specification, production, maintenance and marketing of build
ing materials.
Researchers in chemistry, physics and medicine are using instruments that, by