HISTORY OF COLOR ORDER SYSTEMS DEVELOPED IN RELATION TO ARCHITECTURE Jose Luis CAIVANO caivano@fadu.uba.ar University of Buenos Aires
and Conicet (National Council for Research) Argentina
Grupo Argentino del Color
Aristotle, 350 b.C.
BLACK
BLUE
GREEN
VIOLET
RED
YELLOW
WHITE
color: linear scales and chromatic circles
Aguilonius, 1613
white
yellow
gray
red
blue
green
brown black
Forsius, 1611
Newton, 1704
3D color order systems
Lambert, 1772
Munsell, c.1915
Runge, 1810
Hickethier, 1952
CIELAB 1976
Alberti 1435
Hesselgren 1953
Felibien 1676
Benson 1868
Hård 1970’s
Villalobos 1947
Nemcsics 1980’s
Leon B. Alberti
De pictura
De re aedificatoria
[14041472]
Treatise on painting
The ten books on architecture
1435
1452
Neque tamen eos philosophantes aspernandos putem qui de coloribus ita disputant ut species colorum esse numero septem statuant: album atque nigrum duo colorum extrema, unum quidem intermedium… I do not despise those philosophers who thus dispute about colours and establish the kinds of colours at seven. White and black are the two extremes of colour. Another is established Alberti, De pictura between them.
(On painting) Latin version, 1435
white
black
Reconstruction of Robert Grosseteste’s scheme of 7 colors, circa 1230
Parliamo come pittore. Dico per la permistione de' colori nascere infiniti altri colori, ma veri colori solo essere quanto gli elementi, quattro, dai quali più e più altre spezie di colori nascono. I speak here as a painter. Through the mixing of colours infinite other colours are born, but there are only four true colours —as there are four elements— from which more and more other kinds of colours may be thus created. Fia colore di fuoco il rosso, dell'aere celestrino, dell'acqua il verde, e la terra bigia e cenericcia. Gli altri colori … sono permistione di questi. Red is the colour of fire, blue of the air, green of the water, and of the earth grey and ash. Other colours … are mixtures of these. Alberti, Della pittura (On Painting) Italian Tuscan version, 1436
blue
yellow
red
green Possible reconstruction of the color system described by Alberti. Charles Parkhurst & Robert Feller
“Who invented the color wheel”, Color Research and Application, 1982
Narciso Silvestrini & Ernst Fischer www.colorsystem.com
participant of the famous discussions between the advocates of drawing and those of color in the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
Andre Felibien [16191695] France
secretary of the Royal Academy of Architecture
Principles of architecture, sculpture, painting and other arts that rely on them. With a dictionary of proper terms for each of these arts, 1676 Andre Felibien [16191695]
Andre Felibien, 1676
Chapter 10 On Painting with Enamel One of the first known descriptions of color mixtures starting from three primaries: • red • yellow • blue
Heinwig Lang “Trichromatic Theories Before Young” Color Research and Application, 1983
The Yellow is found also … The Blue is made with enamel of azurine… The Red … is composed of…
Andre Felibien, 1676
The Colors that I have just named are the basis or, even more, the matter of which all the other colors used for Enamel painting are composed; it is just necessary to mix them in order to make various hues.
ON PAINTING … the same that the Painters do on their palettes. Blue and Yellow mixed make Green; Blue and Red make Violet; and so on with the others.
Andre Felibien, 1676
Yellow green
orange
Claude Boutet [?]: Traité de la peinture en mignature (Treatise on miniature painting),
Blue
Red purple
1708 Parkhurst & Feller (Color Research and Application, 1982)
attribute this circle to Felibien
William Benson Principles of the science of colour concisely stated to aid and promote their useful application in the decorative arts 1868
Hickethier
Küppers
William Benson Principles of the science of colour concisely stated to aid and promote their useful application in the decorative arts 1868
Colour Atlas by Villalobos Dominguez 1947
Candido Villalobos Dominguez [18811954] Julio Villalobos [1905?]
Villalobos, 1947
Villalobos, 1947
Sven Hesselgren [19071993]
Color system 1953
Hesselgren 1953
Hesselgren 1953
NCS Natural Color System
Anders Hård [19222009], Gunnar Tonnquist, [1925], Lars Sivik [1933]
gray axis hue
luminosity
Antal Nemcsics [1927]
Coloroid system
saturation
gray axis
chromatic elliptical circuit
Nemcsics, Coloroid system
48 basic hues
Nemcsics, Coloroid system
luminosity
white
Nemcsics, Coloroid system
grays
black
saturation
color space
outer space of all perceptible colors inner space of surface colors
Nemcsics, Coloroid system
outer space of all perceptible colors
inner space of surface colors
Nemcsics, Coloroid system
Alberti 1435
Hesselgren 1953
Felibien 1676
Benson 1868
Hård 1970’s
Villalobos 1947
Nemcsics 1980’s
Thank You!
See you in AIC 2012, “Color & Environment” Interim Meeting of the International Color Association Taipei, 2225 September 2012
www.aic2012.org