COLOR. In art, either the pigment employed to produce a certain effect to the eye, or the effect thus produced—i.e. the tint of a picture. In the former sense it is treated of in this work under the names of the colors themselves. In the latter sense it may be defined as the gen eral effect of all hues entering, into the composi tion of the picture.
The sensation of color is produced by waves of light setting into vibration fibres of the optic nerve, and the length of these light-waves is the cause of the different hues. For example, when the light-wave is of an inch long, red is the color produced, and as the waves de crease in force, we see yellow, green, blue, and so on through the spectrum. According to the theory of Chevron], now generally accepted, white light is the union of all colors, and its decomposition by an object reveals the color separated from the rest. Thus, a rose absorbs all colors but red, which it reflects; while a white substance, rejecting all colors, is there fore colorless. Correctly speaking, there are but six colors— three primary (red, blue, and yellow), and three secondary (orange, violet, and green). Orange is composed of purple and yellow, violet of red and blue, green of yellow and blue. All other colors are compounds of these.
Complementary Colors are those which, com bined with another color or colors, make up the three primary colors constituting white light. If the given color be primitive, its com plement is composed of the other two primitive colors. For example, the complementary color of blue is orange—that is to say, red and yel low. If the given color he a secondary, its com plementary is the remaining primitive color—as, for instance, the complementary color of green (blue and yellow) is red. In painting,brilliancy of coloring may be obtained by placing comple mentary colors side by side, because each lends to the other a favorable halo, while the juxta position of non-complementary colors has the op posite effect of dullness. This method of height ening and softening colors was used with great effect by Delacroix, and is to-day much prac ticed by French and Spanish painters.
It is also usual in the studios to divide colors into warm tones and cool, according as they approach or depart from the colors of sunlight. Reds, oranges, and yellows are regarded as warm; blues, greens, and violets as cool. In painting it has long been customary to relieve warm colors by placing them near cool. This is especially marked in Correggio's pictures, which have a central point of warm color with the surroundings cool. The Florentines reversed this process, while the Venetians intermixed warm and cool tones, and Rubens placed them side by side.
Contrast of Color is either simple or com pound. Each of the primitive colors forms a contrast to the other two. Thus, blue forms a simple contrast to red and yellow. But if red and yellow were mixed together, the complement ary colors to blue would be produced—viz. orange, which is the most powerful contrast to blue. This was the earliest and simplest way of obtaining color effects. It was almost universal among the Italians of the Renaissance, as wit ness the reds and blues in the garments of the Madonna and the saints. In modern times it has been much used, but not with the same suc cess, by the pre-Raphaelites in England and the followers of Ingres in France.
Harmony of Color is more difficult to attain, and is based rather upon the accord than upon contrast or the use of complementary colors. In nature there are few sudden contrasts of color, but rather gradual transitions and delicate gradations. Harmony endeavors to preserve the same tones in a painting as exist in nature. It discriminates between the same color seen in sun light and in shadow, near or at a distance; or, in other words, between the values of colors. No matter how different the colors of tbe pic tures, they mast all accord with the dominant eolor-t one.
The mastery of color is the most difficult achievement of painting, and it has been truly said that the colorist, like the poet, is born and not made. Few even among the great painters have attained it. Concerning the Greeks, it is impossible to make statements with surety, since all their best work has perished. The East Indians attained it in the harmonious colors in their beautiful fabrics. Among the Italians of the Renaissance, the artists of Parma and Venice were distinguished as colorists, chief among whom were Co•reggio, Titian, and Veronese. Many of the old Dutch and Flemish painters were fine colorists, Rembrandt and Rubens being foremost among them. In the English school Turner was the only really great colorist; while the French school shows a stately array, includ ing such names as Watteau, Chardin, Delacroix, Fromentin, Rousseau, Diaz, Millet, etc. In Spain the greatest colorists were Velasquez, Goya, and Fo•tuny. The American school of the past few years has produced a number of good colorists, among them La Farge, Sargent, and Whistler.
Consult: Van Dyke, J. C., Art for Art's Sake (New York, 1901) ; Blanc, Grainmaire des arts du dessin (Paris, 1870) : Reynolds, Dis courses Before the Royal Academy (London, (1S31).