Art Appreciation - Formal Analysis of an artwork

1.4 Color

Scientists have worked out how we see color, but artists must also understand color and its many attributes in order to use it to its full potential in their artworks. We know that colors of light (used, for example, by digital artists or an artist creating a light installation with many colors) and colors of pigment (traditional media, such as paint) mix together in different ways. The mixing of colors of light is known as additive, whereas a pigment mixture is called subtractive. Color wheels are graphic devices used to manage the mixing of pigments (1.4.4 and 1.4.6) and light (1.4.9) and help artists predict the results.

Color wheel diagrams can also explain complementary and analogous colors, and the optical effects artists can achieve by using them. Makeup artists, for example, will use complementary colors of eyeshadow (e.g. pink for green eyes) to show off the eyes to maximum effect. This look might not be to everyone’s taste, however, and that goes to show the subjective and personal nature of viewing colors.

The four basic properties hue, value, chroma (or saturation), and tone are essential to understanding color. But sensations are important too; some colors seem warm or cool to us, and we refer to this as color temperature. Sometimes, our physiological ability to perceive color can be challenged when there is too much color information. Optical color is our mind’s response to this kind of sensory overload.

Color can have strong psychological resonances for people. It can affect how we think and feel. Artists have used color to express emotions—and have been exploring the human response to it—for thousands of years.

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:

• COLOR AND LIGHT • COLOR AND PIGMENT • ADDITIVE AND SUBTRACTIVE COLOR • COLOR WHEELS • KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF COLOR • THE SENSATION OF COLOR • INTERPRETING COLOR SYMBOLISM • THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COLOR