9. Color Harmony

Experience has taught us that certain combinations of colors, whether in nature or art, affect the eye and mind agreeably, while others give offense. We call the former "harmonies," the latter "discords."

Just as numerous attempts have been made to discover the laws of light and of color vision, and to invent practical systems of color measurement and notation, great ef­fort has been expended in trying to ferret out the reasons why some combinations of color are pleasing and others are not, and to devise laws to insure harmonious color employment. We have finally learned, however, that even if it were possible to grasp all such reasons, workable laws guaranteeing immunity against chromatic discord still could not be devised.

In view of the contrary claims of some writers, we offer the following arguments to substantiate our state­ment.

First, as we have demonstrated, colors change in effect according to their environment, each hue being modified by those adjacent to it. Color harmony is not merely a mat­ter of selection, therefore, but also of arrangement — a fact not nearly as commonly recognized as it should be. A color scheme extremely pleas­ing to the average person can become, in rearrangement, positively disturbing. Arrangement obviously cannot be controlled wholly by rule — at least in representational paintings.

Area, like arrangement, influences color appearances, as we have seen. Harmonious schemes can often be made discordant, or at least uninter­esting, simply by increasing or de­creasing certain color areas. Of course, the reverse is also true. It is easy to see that a small spot of vivid red, which delightfully reinforces, through contrast, a large area of bright green, might, if sufficiently expanded, rival the green, causing a disturbing division of interest. But there are no arbitrary rules to be followed with regard to area and color harmony.

Nor are there definite laws govern­ing the use of such phenomena as the oscillation that we observed in Exercise 50 when alternating bands of complementary colors were viewed from a certain distance. Yet effects such as this are capable of making some schemes disagreeable and others pleasing or telling.

Texture, although not a quality of color, is another influence that can seldom be ignored. In architecture and decoration, for example, mate­rials harmonious in color often show textural inconsistency or discord. A mere coating of varnish, changing dull woodwork to shiny, can be enough to upset a scheme complete­ly. Even in painting pictures, tex­tural harmony is almost as important as color harmony— the two are close­ly wedded — yet there are no clear-cut laws.

Color fitness or suitability must also be considered, as must that ever-present matter of personal taste. After all, who is to say which colors harmonize and which do not? We have all seen that changing fashions can have a considerable effect on the average person's ideas of what colors are or are not attractive and suitable for particular purposes, espe­cially in relation to women's clothing and interior decoration. There are also, as we are all aware, attitudes toward particular colors and color combinations that stem from tem­perament, national traditions, climate, environment and other unpredictable factors.

This should be enough to warn the student against the exaggerated statements of writers who claim or imply that their methods or systems of obtaining color harmony are infal­lible or universally applicable. Printed laws and clever devices designed to reveal color schemes can certainly be of help, but only in a very limited way.

Referring to laws of harmony, Mat­thew Luckiesh, in his book Color and Its Applications summed up the situa­tion this way: "These... are meant to be mere guideposts and are not to be taken as distinct boundaries of the different classes of color har­monies. In fact, a given harmonious arrangement may not be in accord­ance with any single principle, but is likely to involve more than one. No simple laws of color harmony can be framed which will be separated by distinct boundary lines. Further­more, when other factors are con­sidered, such as the indefmiteness of individual taste, and the meagerness of data, it must be concluded that these laws of color harmony can be viewed at present only as general statements. They will not become more specific until the accumulation of knowledge has made this simpli­fication possible and doubtless will never be expressible with exactitude. It is not intended that the foregoing statements should discourage the use of these general laws, or the establish­ment of others as the knowledge of color harmony accumulates, but they should serve to caution those who take these laws too seriously."

General Laws of Color Harmony

From Chevreul on, so many writers have discussed these laws that we shall not attempt to go into them thoroughly here. The reader who is interested in the theoretical aspects of color harmony will want to inves­tigate all the books on this subject (many are listed in the Bibliography of this volume). However, the painter whose main concern is the repre­sentation of actual places and things can base his harmonies largely on nature, his problem being less diffi­cult than that of the designer or others who use color in more individ­ual ways.

So we shall stress actual color schemes to start the student on his way. Then, if he does some further reading about color, keeps in mind what he learns of color harmony in his observation of the world around him, both in the effects of nature and in man-made objects (including paintings), and constantly practices with his pigments, he will gradually develop the aesthetic instinct which the artist needs.

One Color with White, Gray or Black

The simplest scheme we find (if of sufficient importance to dignify with the name) is that of an individual hue, used in one value and intensity, in conjunction with white, gray or black (taken individually or collec­tively) and sometimes with the addi­tion of silver or gold. A common illustration of this type of scheme is the booklet printed with black ink on white paper (the type masses giving the impression of gray), and with a cover of colored stock, or with initials or decorations of one tone of a single hue.

Schemes of this kind seldom give offense, for there is nothing about any single color, pleasing in itself, which should prove objectionable when used in conjunction with white, gray or black. Some schemes are more effective than others, however. As a rule, if a single color is to be used with large areas of black, a warm one — red, orange or rich yel­low — seems most effective; these colors have a brilliancy and vigor which appear to relate them to black. If such cool colors as blue, blue-green or blue-violet are employed with black, they are at their best if quite intense. A pale violet on black is likely to seem uninspiring — but, again, area, texture and personal taste might make any combination effective, or at least acceptable, in certain circumstances.

Almost any color can be used with white. Blue and white has always been a popular combination, as has red and white. In fact, it would be difficult to imagine a color that could not be combined with white, provid­ing, of course, that the areas and textures were balanced properly.

The Monochromatic Scheme

The painter makes little use of the type of scheme just discussed, so we shall turn to the simplest one which he does employ: a single hue used in any desired number of val­ues and intensities. Such a scheme is generally called "monochromatic" (one color).

A monochromatic scheme is merely an extension of the one color with white, gray or black to include all values and intensities of the color used. The most frequent illustration of this scheme is the drawing done on white paper with a single color — sepia, for instance — the values ordinarily varying from light tints to dark shades. Such variations of one hue are sometimes called "self-tones." There are those who insist that in the use of self-tones there can be no color harmony because there is nothing with which the color could possibly agree or disagree. Strictly speaking, this is true. Such a scheme undeniably runs the danger of becoming monotonous, but it is surpris­ing how colorful some such arrange­ments are. A sketch done in white or black or both on colored paper would also fall within this general category. Such a sketch sometimes seems surprisingly rich in hue. In a scheme of self-tones, there is usually ample interest if the values are sufficiently contrasted.

If the artist wishes to obtain slight­ly more variety than the strictly monochromatic scheme affords, it is a simple thing to add inconspicuous suggestions of other colors. One could, for instance, use blue as the predominant color, with perhaps just a hint of the related hues, green and violet, even adding the slightest indi­cation of warm tones of a more-or-less complementary nature. These subtle touches, barely distinguishable, could give the impression of a satisfying opulence of hue, yet the drawing would remain fundamentally mono­chromatic. Any other color could be selected as the predominant hue and supported with subtle hints of anal­ogous and complementary colors.

Analogous Schemes

Relatively speaking, all schemes classed as monochromatic are rare in the work of the painter, so let us turn to a slightly more complicated type, the analogous or related scheme. As its name implies, such a scheme is made up of colors which are near each other in the spectrum. Orange, yellow and green, for example, form an analogous scheme because they all contain the common factor, yel­low.

A glance at a color wheel will show what groups of colors are analogous. Refer to the 12-hue wheel in Plate 10. If we start with yellow, we note that yellow-orange and yellow-green, which are made up largely of yellow, are particularly close in relationship. These three form a " close " analogy. If to these we add orange and green, each of which contains some yellow, this entire five-hue group is anal­ogous. Strictly speaking, we can even add red-orange and blue-green (though here we approach danger) because each of these has a slight yellow content. This gives us, cen­tering about yellow, seven hues out of the 12 of our scale, or more than half the wheel, somewhat related.

In arranging analogous schemes, however, the more colors we include, the greater our difficulties; typical analogous schemes usually take in not more than a third or a quarter of the color wheel. Schemes based on two, three, four and sometimes even five hues (in relation to a 12-hue wheel) are perhaps the safest and surest of all the schemes available to the artist. In other words, there is no easier way for one to get harmo­nious color than to limit himself to a few hues showing a clear indication of mutual relationship. As one in­creases his number of analogous hues to six or seven, however, thus taking in half or more than half of his 12-hue wheel, he loses the true effect of analogy. In a seven-hue scheme such as that mentioned above centering about yellow, the hues, strictly speaking, are analogous in the sense that they are slightly relat­ed because of the common bond of yellow, this being present, although in small proportion, even in the red-orange and blue-green at the extrem­ities. We know, however, that blue-green and red-orange are actually opposite on the chromatic circle and therefore are complementary. Thus, though such a scheme may be pleas­ing enough, we have stretched a point in calling it analogous when two of its colors are true comple­ments.

This is why we urgently advise the student never to use at one time, as analogous, more than those colors occupying approximately one-third of the wheel. It is, of course, possible to have analogous schemes of six or seven or even of innumerable variations of hue, provided they show such slight differences that they could all be included within approxi­mately one-third of the color circle.

Even if one does limit himself to this area, chromatic success, al­though likely to follow, still cannot be guaranteed. The author once noticed a florist's delivery truck of a pale violet hue standing before a brick wall which, in the sunshine, was a vivid red-orange. Both these colors had quite a bit of red as a common factor, but it was not enough to relate them pleasingly. The delicate violet could scarcely have seemed more out of keeping anywhere than it did against the vigor of the red brickwork. But here, again, tex­ture was a contributing factor, the shiny surface of the truck reflecting an unpleasant glare in the bright sunshine while the brickwork was enlivened by the interplay of light and shadow on its uneven surface. The size of the truck and its proximity to the wall may also have contributed to the discordant effect.

Analogous Schemes with Dominant Hue

Before leaving the matter of analo­gous schemes, we should make clear that, although they are often among the most pleasing and easy to handle, the very unification which makes them harmonious may at the same time make them monotonous. The artist must seek to develop in them sufficient hue interest (as well as variety of value, intensity and ar­rangement) to prevent monotony.

One of the easiest means of obtain­ing interest is by placing emphasis on a dominant hue. There are various ways of doing this. A particular hue can dominate because of its large area, dark value (against a lighter background), light value (against a darker background) or intensity. In analogous schemes which are light in value and low in intensity, domi­nation of one hue is often brought about through increased area. Inte­rior decorators frequently use such schemes for backgrounds.

Analogous Schemes with Complementary Accents

When he feels too strongly the monotony of an analogous scheme, the artist can enliven it by the intro­duction of complementary accents. Such accents, particularly if brilliant, generally have a power out of all proportion to their size. A single touch of color complementary to one hue — usually the dominant — of an analogous scheme can give surprising life to the whole. As point­ed out earlier, Corot often added a touch of red or reddish brown — per­haps a cow or a man's cap or jacket — to give vitality to the somewhat som­ber greens of his landscape.

Complementary Schemes

It is but a step from this use of complementary accents to comple­mentary schemes, sometimes known as "harmonies of contrast." Under this heading we can include any pleasing schemes which conspicu­ously introduce opposite colors. In fact, the majority of all color schemes are to an extent contrasting, the con­trast usually being developed by means of complements.

Our experience with afterimages and simultaneous contrast made clear that a very definite relationship exists between the colors we call comple­ments, even though they lack the unifying influence of any common hue. Green and red, for instance, are as unlike in appearance as any two colors could possibly be, yet we have seen that even they are related. It is doubtless because of this subtle relationship that we like to bring into opposition colors which on casual inspection seem wholly dissimilar. Perhaps, as some scientific investi­gators suggest, this is due to some physiological or psychological need for balanced retinal stimulation. What­ever the reason, it is certainly true that a majority of people prefer har­monies of contrast to those of an­alogy. (The familiar phrase "har­mony of contrast" would seem incon­sistent, by the way, if we did not know that opposites have this strange af­finity.) Some go so far as to say that color schemes never seem to them complete and satisfying unless they contain all the leading colors in balanced pairs. Whatever one thinks about this, natgre, as we men­tioned earlier, is profuse in comple­mentary schemes and we enjoy her variety.

We must control our contrasts, however, or we achieve instead of harmony, chaos. We would seldom think of the combination of equal areas of fully intense complementary red and green as pleasing, for in­stance. Nor would we enjoy a similar arrangement of brilliant yellow and intense violet. This can be summed up in the general law that one should never base a color scheme on com­plementary colors in equal areas and full strength. The most perfect ex­terior or interior work in the world would be ruined if alternately striped with equal bands of brilliant red and green. Such a contrast has strong attentive interest, but that is its only virtue. A suit made of equal stripes of orange and blue would compel attention, but we could scarcely call it beautiful.

If we examine this rule, however, we find the key to successful com­plementary arrangements. Note it advises us not to use complements "in equal areas and full strength." Here lies the key, for we can employ complements to advantage in un­equal areas or in varying strength. A large red area and a small green area, for instance, often seem har­monious, for the dominant red gives unity to the combination. Likewise a brilliant red can be employed suc­cessfully with a neutralized green, even though the areas are equal, for the red will dominate because of its superior intensity.

Another type of complementary scheme which can be very satisfying is one in which closely related tones of one color are contrasted with simi­larly related tones of the comple­mentary color. Orange and near-orange, for instance, might be con­trasted with similarly related blues, the orange representing all the warm tones in the subject and the blue all the cool. These could be kept from clashing by the expedient of working some of the warm tones into the cool, and vice versa. As a further harmonizing influence, both the orange and the blue could be some­what neutralized. Both colors could also be modified by other hues, the warm tones with traces of yellow and red, the cool areas with green and violet. In other words, such a scheme, in exact analysis, would be based on two delicately balanced analogous groups, one with orange and the other with blue dominant, the cool group probably less asser­tive than the warm. One advantage of a scheme of this kind is its rela­tive simplicity. It makes it possible to achieve a rich effect with a limited palette.

Some artists feel that such a warm and cool combination affords the student the best approach to his color problems, especially as they relate to outdoor sketching. In his book, The Art of Water Color Paint­ing, E. Bernard Lintott says: "For a young student there cannot be a better way of entering upon the study of watercolor than by rigorously banishing all but two colors from his palette. It is the best and surest way to the study of full color. The colors should be a cold one and a warm one; Cobalt Blue and Warm Sienna — or Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna — are two combinations which lend themselves to a great variety of treatment.

"The opposition of the qualities of warm and cool color are then only to be looked for, and a valuable lesson’ can be learned in this way as to the preservation and balance of all important masses of color. The greatest watercolorist the world has ever known began in this way, J. M. W. Turner, and it was by the absolute mastery of these simple means that he finally entered into that opulence of full color that few but himself have ever achieved."

The reader is heartily urged to try some such limited palette (this is a worth-while exercise for the oil paint­er as well as for the watercolorist) as a test of the value of this recom­mendation. If there is danger from thus employing colors which are complementary, it is that dullness may creep in where they merge, particularly if they are absolute complements.

Near and Split Complements

The eye does not demand that, in contrasts of complementary nature, absolute complements be used. This would be difficult, as we know, even if desirable. But, fortunately, com­plements which are only approximate or "near" often seem more pleasing than those which are true. The term "near complement" is self-explana­tory. Violet is the true complement of yellow; blue-violet and red-violet, its near complements. If we speak of these near complements in their rela­tion one to the other, we call them "split" complements, as they are split or separated by the true complement.

The 18-hue color wheel in Plate 10 shows a helpful device in the form of a pivoted pointer so designed that if A be directed towards a given hue, B and C indicate the near or split complements. This wheel and pointer are shown in black and white in Figure 27.

Triads

If we base a color scheme on a color and its split complements, or on hues mixed from them, we can obtain a fairly wide range of hues, but none of them will be brighter than the color itself and the two split complements in their full intensity. Sometimes such a range proves too limited. When it does, we can use the two colors, each of which is a step further removed from the true complement. Thus, if yellow should be taken as a hue to dominate a color scheme and the split comple­ments red-violet and blue-violet (alone or in mixture) should prove too dull to hold

Figure 27. A device for determining split complements is shown here on an 18-hue color wheel. When A points to yellow, B and C indicate the split complements of yel­low: red-violet and blue-violet. See Plate 10.

Figure 28. A 12-hue color wheel is shown here with a device for locating triads. The large triangle A-B-C can be moved (or drawn) to indicate any group of three equidistant colors. The small " a " indicates the comple­ment of the hue at A. See Plate 10.

their own, red and blue might be substituted. In this case, we would be using three colors equally spaced on the wheel. This combina­tion is called a "triad." A pivoted pointer for locating triads is shown with the 12-hue color wheel in Plate 10. When A points at a given hue, B and C reveal the other two compo­nent colors. This wheel and pointer are reproduced in black and white in Figure 28.

Though mixtures obtained from triads can be very rich and beauti­ful, triads by no means guarantee color harmony. The red-yellow-blue triad is made up of our three prima­ries. We know that practically all colors can be mixed from this cominaction, discords as well as harmo­nies. To get effective results, there­fore, one hue of the three is usually selected to dominate the scheme and the other two are mixed together or with the first, or are greatly diluted, or otherwise rendered less potent. This produces a definite scheme with a dominant hue. Some triads have less brilliancy than others, but it is best, even so, to select one of the hues to dominate.

When a color scheme is based on a triad, one of the most certain ways of preventing rivalry between the basic colors is first to select one as a dominant and then to "veil" the other with it. This veiling can be done either through superposition of washes or glazes or by admixture. If, for example, a red-yellow-blue triad were selected, red might be chosen as the dominant color. The red could then be washed over both the yellow and the blue which, to further empha­size the red, could be used in light tints rather than at full strength. In general, veiling is a good way of securing chromatic balance, simply and quickly. Another play-safe meth­od used by many artists is to dis­tribute each of the leading hues in a painting in such a way as to weave an all-over color pattern.

Plate 12. (See page 42.) Monochromatic minglings of black with primary, secondary, and intermediate colors are demonstrated here. The primaries mingled with black are shown at full intensity, and after scrubbing. Note the variety of tones in each of these minglings.

Plate 13. (See page 43.) Mingling many pairs of colors is an excellent way to learn the art of color mixture. The top row shows primaries mingled to produce secondaries and intermediates. In the next two rows, primaries are mingled with secondaries. The two bot­tom rows show the mingling of complements to produce a variety of bright and neutral tones.

An important point to remember in building any color scheme is that a pleasing effect depends as much on a satisfying arrangement of values and intensities as on the particular combination of hues.

Exercises for Discovering Color Schemes

The following exercises, based on the minglings which we suggested you try in Exercise 28, Chapter VI, are designed to reveal quickly a wide variety of possible color schemes which will have numerous applica­tions. Other exercises, similar in purpose, might be performed with oil paints, of course, but in these we will use watercolor pigments.

Exercise 60: Monochromatic Min­glings — With Plate 12 as a guide, mingle with black, one at a time, at least the 12 normal hues of your color wheel. This experiment will open your eyes to the astonishingly varied and complicated effects you can ob­tain merely by mixing individual hues with black.

Wet a rectangular area (about 3 by 4 inches) in the upper left-hand corner of a sheet of watercolor paper or board approximately 15 by 22 in­ches in size, which must be laid flat. (You need not work to definite bound­ary lines which are an unnecessary handicap.) Into this puddle or very wet area, shake a few drops of in­tense red and black pigments and allow them to spread. Manipulate them with the brush so that in places they retain their full strength while in others they blend quite freely or are greatly diluted; part of the paper should remain white. It sometimes helps to rock the board or tip it or even to blow the pigment in the de­sired direction in order better to control the results.

When you have made a similar mingling for each of the normal hues on your color wheel, make a second series of minglings of the same colors, perhaps beneath the first, scrubbing these when dry to produce softer tones. Make another series substituting gray for black and using lighter values of all the colors. Next, do a second sheet, similar to the first, using other colors and perhaps a different black. Try black ink, for instance. It is capable of surprisingly brilliant effects. By surrounding bright spots of color — particularly the lighter hues such as yellow — with black ink, striking contrasts can be formed.

Many of the combinations which develop in these minglings will sug­gest ideas for adaptation in paintings. Some will look like clouds or sunsets; others like foliage or flame; still others like fabric or marble. The possibili­ties are endless.

Exercise 61: Mingled Pairs — When you have tried all the monochromatic arrangements at your disposal, per­form the same experiments with minglings of two hues at a time (see Plate 13). Begin by mingling the primaries — red and yellow, yellow and blue, blue and red. Note how the minglings of each of these combinations produces a range of hues that includes, besides the two primaries, the resultant secondary and intermediaries.

Next, combine each of the prima­ries with its analogous secondaries: red and orange, yellow and orange, yellow and green, blue and green, blue and violet, red and violet. These will probably appear very similar to the previous minglings of the pri­maries. Finally, try combinations that in­clude complementary hues and note how such minglings create a great variety of tones, ranging from the brilliant areas of your pure colors to neutralized hues where the complementaries mix and mingle.

Exercise 62: Three-Color Minglings — Endless combinations are possible when three hues are mingled (see Plate 14). For a start, use each of your normal colors and its split complements, then all of the triads your wheel suggests. Try scrubbing some of them after they've dried. This process brings the colors to­gether, creating soft and sometimes extremely beautiful harmonies.

Don't do any of this work in a per­functory way. Carry out these exer­cises conscientiously and try to mem­orize some of the best effects. Save all these sheets, too, for future refer­ence, with the names of the com­ponent hues noted.

Exercise 63: Color Schemes — Now base color schemes on some of your minglings, as a test of their practi­cability in this direction. It is gener­ally best to select for a color scheme only a few of the tones visible in any one mingling. As a means of accom­plishing this, lay finders such as we have already described — strips of paper with holes through them a quarter-inch to a half-inch in size — on the mingling and shift them, experimentally, until a pleasing com­bination of hues is revealed, the remainder of the colored areas being hidden from view. With these find­ers clipped in place, you are ready to proceed with a drawing or design inspired by the scheme thus revealed.

Analyzing Color Schemes

As a means of increasing your awareness of color schemes, you would do well to study and analyze those of the masters or, in fact, any good paintings that you are able to observe. You can use reproductions in magazines or books for this purpose, but of course it is far better to study the paintings at first hand since reproductions, no matter how care­fully made, are often quite different from the originals. For one thing, the tremendous reduction in size that is so often necessary produces, inevitably, a distortion in the area relationships; for another, the best color printing processes cannot du­plicate the exact effect of the colors and textures of paint on canvas or watercolor paper. However, poor substitutes though they may be, re­productions will certainly serve the purpose if you are not in a position to study good paintings whenever you wish to.

Plate 14. (See page 44.) Three-color minglings suggest a wide range of color schemes. Here are minglings of adjacent hues, of near or split complements, and of triads. Try them at full intensity, scrubbed, or veiled with a single-color wash.

In analyzing the color schemes of some paintings, particularly of large canvases, you will often find it per­plexing to decide just what the fun­damental color scheme is. Don't let this worry you too much. As we have already indicated, generally no definite line of demarcation can be drawn between color schemes. Sev­eral kinds of schemes are often combined in a single painting. Many schemes are so complex that they could easily be classified in a num­ber of ways.

So, in your analysis, study the infinitely varied ways in which great painters have used color, observe the effects they have achieved, and experiment with variations of them in your own painting. Gradually, you will develop your own ability to choose colors and combine them in harmo­nious arrangements.

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