Color

Color

This book addresses the subject of color in all media, both fine and applied. It provides an informative introduction to understanding color from the approaches of aesthetics, science, psychology, and history; and includes beautiful illustrations and direct quotes from working artists about their perspectives about color use. The book discusses all facets of color in historic and contemporary paintings, with sections on the psychological and compositional effects of color, theories of color relationships, subtractive notation and light mixtures, color combinations, and color in fine art and applied design. For working artists and employees in the fields of art and design, such as painters, sculptors, crafters, photographers, advertisement creators, cartoonists, commercial designers, computer artists and website designers, architects, landscape designers, interior designers, and clothing designers. The fourth edition of Color is a valuable introduction to the art and science of color use in all artistic media. It provides a solid and thorough foundation in the aesthetic and practical basics of color, discussed from the artist's point of view, with many quotations from artists past and present on the subtleties of their techniques. Along with an extensive illustration program reflecting examples from fine and applied arts, there is now also a brief epigraph in each chapter. Key features of the fourth edition: 35 exciting new illustrations, ranging from the established masters such as Matisse and Bonnard to contemporary computer graphic artists such as Jan Good and light sculptors such as Peter Erskine. - New diagrams to illustrate the theory of color constancy, the reflection of light from various surfaces, and the Birren color triangle. - New topics explored include the Luscher Test, color therapy, virtual reality, and cultural differences in the perception of color. Color is addressed to artists and art students in all media, in both fine and applied arts. It provides an informative but non-dogmatic introduction to the many different approaches to understanding color, including aesthetics, science, psychology, and history. Illustrations for the chapters on color concepts are taken from all media. Special aesthetic and practical considerations for color usage in each medium—such as ways that graphic designers use and specify printers' inks—are also explored. The realities of color use are accentuated by direct quotes from working artists. Technical terms are carefully defined in the text and also in a glossary. Those appearing in the glossary are printed in boldface when first introduced in the text. Special Features of the Fourth Edition This fourth edition of Color reflects the tremendous range of color choices in the studio and the marketplace. There are now millions of colors available through computer graphics, more than the human eye can even distinguish. The section on computer-generated colors includes the complications of color matching when designers are working with both computer and printing technologies. Color choices in such crafts fields as ceramics, glass, and fibers are also mushrooming as they cross the soft boundary between fine and applied arts. Optical color effects continue to be an area of artistic experimentation, and these are illustrated and discussed in detail. In the midst of these burgeoning choices, students are given a clear and solid foundation for understanding uses of color. Some 35 lively new images have been added to this edition, from cave paintings to twenty-first century virtual reality installations. Illustrations of points under discussion reflect the great variety in color applications, including historic and contemporary paintings, sculpture, installation pieces, crafts, photographs, advertisements, cartoons, commercial design, computer art, video, architecture, landscape design, interior design, and clothing. The work of women and multicultural art are naturally interwoven throughout the text. For this edition, new visual demonstrations have been added, such as the effects of different lighting sources, reflective qualities of different surfaces, the Bezold Effect, and the phenomenon of color constancy. There is new material on the emotional and physiological effects of different hues, and on the spatial effects of colors. Cutting-edge virtual reality and video installations are illustrated and discussed. Website design and current printing technologies are included in updated discussions of computer-based art. Technical sections have been modified for greater clarity and ease of understanding. Technical material is provided in ways that can form take-off points for artists' own explorations of the intriguing world of color. A special characteristic of this book is its extensive use of artists' own words about their use of color. More such quotations have been incorporated into this edition, and a new feature has been added: artists' quotations introdu