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

color: linear scales and chromatic circles

3D color order systems

Leon B. Alberti[1404-1472] De re aedificatoriaThe ten books on architecture1452De picturaTreatise on painting1435

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 intermediumI 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 between them. Alberti, De pictura (On painting) Latin version, 1435whiteblack

Parliamo come pittore. Dico per la permistione de' colori nascere infiniti altri colori, ma veri colori solo essere quanto gli elementi, quattro, dai quali pi e pi 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

Possible reconstruction of the color system described by Alberti.Charles Parkhurst & Robert Feller Who invented the color wheel, Color Research and Application, 1982Narciso Silvestrini & Ernst Fischer www.colorsystem.com

Andre Felibien [1619-1695] Francesecretary of the Royal Academy of Architectureparticipant of the famous discussions between the advocates of drawing and those of color in the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture

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 [1619-1695]

Andre Felibien, 1676

Andre Felibien, 1676

Claude Boutet [?]: Trait de la peinture en mignature (Treatise on miniature painting), 1708

Parkhurst & Feller(Color Research and Application, 1982)attribute this circle to Felibien

William BensonPrinciples of the science of colour concisely stated to aid and promote their useful application in the decorative arts1868

William BensonPrinciples of the science of colour concisely stated to aid and promote their useful application in the decorative arts1868KppersHickethier

Colour Atlas by Villalobos-Dominguez1947Candido Villalobos-Dominguez [1881-1954] Julio Villalobos [1905-?]

Villalobos, 1947

Villalobos, 1947

Sven Hesselgren [1907-1993]Color system 1953

Hesselgren 1953

Hesselgren 1953

NCS Natural Color System

Antal Nemcsics [1927-]

Coloroid systemsaturation luminosityhuegray axis

Nemcsics, Coloroid systemgray axischromatic elliptical circuit

Nemcsics, Coloroid system48 basic hues

Nemcsics, Coloroid systemwhiteblackgrayssaturation luminosity

Nemcsics, Coloroid systemcolor space

Nemcsics, Coloroid systemouter space of all perceptible colorsinner space of surface colors

Felibien 1676

Thank You!See you in AIC 2012, Color & Environment Interim Meeting of the International Color AssociationTaipei, 22-25 September 2012www.aic2012.org