Abstract
The dimensions of color can be regarded as a function of vision itself. Fascinating as they are, theories of perception or an understanding of the physiology of the eye, are issues apart from those of visual invention. Central to this study is that the perception of color is integral with the perception of form. Therefore a brief discussion of some theories may illuminate the experiments that follow.
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Notes
F. Allport, Theories of Perception and Concept of Structure (New York: Wiley, 1955).
F. Allport, Theories of Perception and Concept of Structure (New York: Wiley, 1955)**Ibid., p. 120, quotes Koffka.
F. Allport, Theories of Perception and Concept of Structure (New York: Wiley, 1955)**Ibid., pp. 598–605.
J.J. Gibson, Perception of the Visual World (New York): Houghton-Mifflin, 1950). Making the distinction between the visual world, which is external to the human observer, and the visual field, within which these clues interrelate, Gibson redefines the abstract conception of the picture plane of perspectival space.
J.J. Gibson, The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1966). Visual relationship, as expressed by gradients (consistent incremental changes such as size, texture, density) give rise to parallel processing in the cortex.
D. Katz, The World of Colour (London: Kegan Paul, 1935). Katz links the loss of surface with the imperceptibility of microstructure or detail. The conversion of a surface to film color results in this condition.
The Liebmann effect is illustrated in a paper study by Josef Albers, using two hues of equal light intensity. When juxtaposed on a plane, the boundary between the two colors is imperceptible.
H. Helson and E. Fehrer, “The Role of Form in Perception, “American Journal of Psychology 44 (1932): 79–102.
Defined by Edgar Rubin. The first systematic study of figure/ground—one of his rules says that the enclosed surface tends to be perceived as figure, while the enclosing one will be ground.
J.J. Gibson, Perception of the Visual World p. 11.
R.W. Burnham, “The Dependence of Color upon Area,” The American Psychologist 4 (1949): 230–231.
F. Birren, Color Psychology and Color Therapy (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1950), p. 146.
D. Katz, The World of Colour pp. 7–28.
M. Martin, “Film, Surface and Bulky Colors and Their Intermediaries,” American Journal of Psychology 33 (1922): 451–480.
D. Katz, The World of Colour.
Goethe, Theory of Colors\ p. 60.
Notes taken by the author in Albers’ color course at Yale University in 1952.
J. Albers, The Interaction of Color (New Haven, Conn: Yale University, 1963).
Chevreul, The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors. (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1967).
C. Ladd-Franklin, Color and Color Theories (New York: Harcourt-Brace, 1929), p. 49: “Hering made it clear that simultaneously induced color was a retinal phenomenon. His theory posits the retinal surface as containing receptor cells sensitive to complementary pairs of colors. The influence of a color on the receptor activates immediately the opposite process. His studies of the after-image and simultaneous light and color induction, place the contrast phenomenon as physiological in character.”
Ewald Hering, Outline of a Theory of the Tight Sense translated by Leo Hurvich and Dorothea Jameson (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1964).
R. Henneman, “A Photometric Study of the Perception of Object Color,” Archives of Psycholog)!, Ph.D. Columbia University, New York, 1935.
“ Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte.” Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago.
Leo Hurvich and Dorothea Jameson, “From Contrast to Assimilation; in Art and in the Eye,” Pergamon, Leonardo 8 (1975): 125–131. The effect of additive mixtures by their assimilation in the eye is described with respect to its occurrence in the work of the pointillist painters, and scientifically, in the optical response.
E. Hering, Theory of the Light Sense.
Hermann von Helmholtz, Treatise on Psychological Optics (New York: Dover, 1962.
Edwin Land, “The Retinex,” The American Scientist 52, 10.2 (1964).
C. Ladd-Franklin, Color and Color Theories.
E.T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension (New York: Doubleday, 1966).
A.H. Munsell, A Color Notation, 12th ed. (Baltimore: Munsell Color Company, 1975).
W. Ostwald, The Color Primer (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1969).
P. Bouma, The Physical Aspects of Color (The Netherlands: Eindhoven Phillips Gloeilampenfabrieken, 1947).
The Weber-Fechner law—The arithmetic appearance of light gradation is due to a geometric progression of the stimulus.
Albers, Interaction of Color.
The term aerial perspective denotes the optical change in surfaces seen at great distances. Their distinctiveness as structures diminishes and at the same time all colors are influenced by the appearance of blue. The term is found in Leonardo’s notebooks, and in Alberti’s Treatise on Painting.
Koschmieder defined the theory of visual range in 1924, from R.A.R. Tricker, Introduction to Meteorological Optics (New York: American Elsevier, 1970).
Fechner’s psychophysical law. As the distance from the stimulus increases relative to the eye, the contrast between adjacent areas decreases in intensity.
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Swirnoff, L. (1989). Dimensional Color: Theoretical Background. In: Dimensional Color. Design Science Collection. Birkhäuser, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2073-0_3
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