INTENSITY

* JOSEF ALBERS’ “INTERACTION OF COLOR” ("IOC")

COLOR THEORY COURSE

NOTE: The Interaction of Color course offered in the web site is the complete course. Because of time constraints, the most outstanding and important studies have been selected for IHA's Studio Art Course. Consult the "IOC IHA STUDIES CHECKLIST" link for IHA-offered studies and their due dates. For the course's complete CHECKLIST, the link is "COMPLETE INTERACTION OF COLOR COURSE INDEX & CHECKLIST".

INTENSITY, VALUE, & OPTICAL MIXTURE STUDIES

INTENSITY STUDIES

12. VIBRATION

12.1. Use bright colors.

12.2. Use complementary colors or near complements.

12.3. Where the edges meet one another the middle color gray develops. The image acts wildly, pulsates, vibrates and may be difficult to look at for a long period of time. “All colors travel in waves within light. Color Complements have drastically different wavelengths and, consequently, cause some perception problems for a viewer if they are placed close to each other in a work of art. The cones and rods of the eye cannot handle so much information, so we sometimes detect a quivering or optical distortion when two complements are used near each other.“ (http://www.saumag.edu/art/studio/chalkboard/c-wheel.html)

12.4. The conclusion of the study will demonstrate:

12.4.1. One successful hue study

12.5. CHECKLIST - 1 STUDY

13. GLOW

13.1. This study also used two complementary colors or near complements.

13.2. Gray is achieved at the edges of the two color but the pulsation rate is far slower and more low keyed than in the vibration study. It is more quiet and more subtle and tends to be less intense, duller and grayer than vibration.

13.3. The conclusion of the study will demonstrate:

13.3.1. One successful hue study

13.4. CHECKLIST - 1 STUDY

VALUE STUDY

14. EQUAL VALUE DESTROYS FORM

(IOC Reference: XXIII EQUAL LIGHT INTENSITY)

` 14.1. Note: Application of this study was invented by French late 19th century painter, Paul Cezanne, the father of 20th century contemporary art. He called it “breaking passages.” This changed two dimensional space from the traditional 15th century Renaissance concepts of foreground, middle ground, and background where the picture lay behind the picture plane as if looking out of a window. “Breaking passages” single handedly gave the 20th century the notion of positive space or figure and negative space or ground lie on or in front of the picture plane. Another 20th century painter who was strongly influenced by Cezanne’s example was the Italian still life painter, Giorgio Morandi. This concept paved the way for total flattening of the canvas as we see in the work of such painters as East Hampton, Long Island Pop artist Willem DeKooning and American color field painter, Ellsworth Kelly.

14.2. The conclusion of the study will demonstrate:

14.2.1. One successful hue study

14.3. CHECKLIST - 1 STUDY

PAUL CEZANNE

In the still lives, black is used to break passage in terms of pure value. Black stays black and weaves its way throughout the composition. The diagonal forward slash strip in the negative space behind the table breaks into the table cloth. To the right of the still life the black shadow of the pitcher becomes part of the tablecloth and part of the fruit in front of the pitcher itself.

In the landscape, blues are part of the sky which break passage into the mountains and into the trees. This is breaking passage in terms of value. There are some greens, blues and ochres hues on the canvas which are the same value which represent hues breaking passage.

IMAGE SOURCES from left to right:

http://www.artinvest2000.com/cezanne_self-portrait.jpg

http://www.respree.com/biography/images/paul-cezanne.jpg

http://www.boheme-magazine.net/vol3/mar06/still_life.jpg

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/sl/cezanne.vase-paille.jpg

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/st-victoire/1529/lauves-1529.jpg

http://www.artinvest2000.com/cezanne_lake-annecy.jpg

GIORGIO MORANDI

What color(s) in each of the paintings "break passage"?

IMAGE SOURCES:

http://www.giorgio-morandi.com/images/artist/2176.jpg (PORTRAIT)

http://www.liceoberchet.it/netday00/arte/images/morandi_natura.jpg (STILL LIFE)

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/IMA/20983~Still-Life-1956-Posters.jpg (STILL LIFE)

http://www.leggievai.it/wp-content/photos/giorgio_morandi_natura_morta.jpg (STILL LIFE)

WILLEM DE KOONING

Can you distinguish the subject matter? Does it matter? Why? Why not?

IMAGE SOURCES from left to right:

http://www.galleryandstudiomagazine.com/Archiveimages/de%20kooning.jpg

http://www.haberarts.com/kooning2.jpg

http://lnc.usc.edu/~brannon/pix/willem_de_kooning_femme_et_bicyclette_1952-53.jpg

ELLSWORTH KELLY

What color harmonies does he use in these paintings?

Why is the color green used to depict Ground Zero, New York City?

The above colors are used in Photoshop and are the primary colors of light. Where and how are they used in Photoshop? This also represents, in part, the Vibration study above. Why? How?

SOURCES OF IMAGES:

http://lnc.usc.edu/~brannon/pix/willem_de_kooning_femme_et_bicyclette_1952-53.jpg

http://www.wfu.edu/art/ac_kelly_ellsworth.jpg

http://www.miandn.com/files/421b52a9.jpg

http://www.mmoca.org/mmocacollects/images/artwork/small/1501.jpg

http://www.tropolism.com/archives/ellsworth_kelly_ground_zero_nyt-thumb.jpg

http://www.theparisreview.com/images/media/imgprint_large_kelly.gif

OPTICAL MIXTURE STUDIES

15. OPTICAL MIXTURE

(IOC Reference: XII OPTICAL MIXTURE)

15.1. This is the technique employed by 19the century impressionists such as Vincent Van Gogh and pointillists such as Georges Seurat. Many hues were placed next one another. From a distance, the eye blended them. It produced works whose colors were richer than those of previous painting schools. Technology has applied contemporary methods of using the phenomenon in pixels on computers, Benday dots in newspaper photography, grain of a photograph, dots and likes which make up at TV image, a tweed pattern, fiber textures, and materials using a variety of color threads or yard, etc. Some of the works of Seurat pre-date pixels in computer imagery by about 75 years!

15.2. The conclusion of the study will demonstrate:

15.2.1. One successful hue study

15.3. CHECKLIST - 1 STUDY

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Notice the flat colors in the Japanese woodblock print rendered behind Van Gogh's head to the right? What is the name of the famous Japanese mountain shown here?

IMAGE SOURCES from left to right:

http://www.oduendex.blogger.com.br/VAN%20GOGH.JPG

http://www.penwith.co.uk/artofeurope/van_gogh_wheatfield_with_crows.jpg

http://www.mystudios.com/art/post/van-gogh/van-gogh-red-vineyard.jpg

http://www.essentialart.com/nyg/Van_Gogh_Starlight_Over_The_Rhone.jpg

GEORGES SEURAT

IMAGE SOURCES from left to right:

http://membres.lycos.fr/seurat/Seurat/biographie.html

http://psych.hanover.edu/krantz/art/jatte.jpg

http://www.abstract-art.com/abstraction/l2_Grnfthrs_fldr/g0000_gr_inf_images/g014b_seurat_embroidery.jpg

http://www.francescomorante.it/images/305d3.JPG

16. FOUR WORLDS

(IOC Reference; XVI COLOR JUXTAPOSITION)

16.1. This is a more sophisticated and developed relative of Optical Mixture. The work of Richard Anuszkiewicz, shown above, can also be seen as an extension of this study. Instead of using four colors, he might use many more. When optically mixed by the eye from a distance, colors blend and become other colors.

16.2. It happens when the thinnest possible strips of the same 4 hues are superimposed of grounds of the same 4 hues. Each of the 4 colors appears in teach of the four panels.

16.3. It involves or can involve optical mixture, vibration, glue, value or hue.

16.4. Make each panel as different from one another as possible. No color is to dominate or if it does, it changes its character because of the surrounding colors. This echoes the famous Albers observation that “color is relative to that which surrounds it.”

16.5. Make a 4 panels the same size in the presentation.

16.6. Look at the studies from a distance to make certain they work.

16.7. Place them far enough apart in the presentation to keep them appearing as different as possible from each other.

16.8. The conclusion of the study will demonstrate:

16.8.1. One study with 4 panels, each using the same 4 colors.

16.9. CHECKLIST - 1 STUDY WITH FOUR PANELS

RICHARD ANUSZKIEWICZ

"Born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1930 and educated under the direction of Joseph Albers at Yale University, Richard Anuszkiewicz is one of the pioneers of the 1970s art movement known as Op Art (a.k.a. Optical Retinal Stimulation Art). Anuszkiewicz’s work demonstrates his interest in the color theories of Albers and basic relationships of geometric shapes. Anuszkiewicz emerged as an important figure in late twentieth century art as he embarked upon his own painting style. " SOURCE: www.muhlenberg.edu/.../masterpieces/ images/squares.jpg

These are optical mixtures as well as optical illusions.

VICTOR VASARELY

Which painting comes closest to being the first panel of a Four Worlds study? Why?

OPTICAL ILLUSION

"The following demonstration, by Daniel White, is a great use of the colour aftereffect illusion. The image below will give an example of a colour you will never see on your computer screen. Stare at the dot in the centre of the red circle for three to five minutes. You will see the edges of the circle begin to glow, but do not stop staring at that point - keep on. After a few minutes move your head back and you will see a glowing ring around the red circle. The colour you are seeing is a cyan which will be perceptually totally different from any of the colours you have seen on your computer. The colour gradient to the right shows the shades of 'cyan' which your computer can produce, none of which match the colour you see with this effect."

QUOTE SOURCE: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/~amos/funpics/cyanshow.png&imgrefurl=http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/~amos/opticalillusion.html&h=286&w=483&sz=9&hl=en&start=21&tbnid=oegIWxLMKomS9M:&tbnh=76&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Doptical%2Billusions%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

Seen from a distance this looks like a head. Seen close up it is a group of animals in an optical illusion. How are these related to the Four Worlds study?

IMAGE SOURCES from top to bottom:

169.226.57.108/ Art3576$641*41251

www.kickarseart.com/art_trends/ i_trends/OpArt.JPG

www.muhlenberg.edu/.../masterpieces/ images/squares.jpg

http://www.risd.edu/museum_contemp_collect.cfm?Choice2=Museum&Choice=Contemporary

http://www.mchampetier.com/sitephp/images/fiche_artiste/Vasarely.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i170/falenazul/Vasarely-Victor-Vonal_Ksz.jpghttp://www.museum.hu/pecs/vasarely/images/0152_intro01_maxi.jpg

http://www.col-camus-soufflenheim.ac-strasbourg.fr/telech/vasarely.jpg

http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/~amos/funpics/cyanshow.png

http://pictures.tryout.ro/cache/optical-illusions_1-65.jpg_430.jpg

IOC GO TO: COLOR THEORY BACKGROUND REVIEW

INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND