Kremer Pigments Inc. NYC: Primary Colors - An Introduction

Primary Colors - An Introduction

14 February 2011

The science of basic color models and their perception are not too heavily debated these days, but the storied history of color theory is rooted in human subjectivity – an emotional and observational rather than scientific order of our color universe. Historical literature attempting color systemization focused on symbolism and the properties of light – called additive color mixing as colored lights “added” together create white.

These theories, not without consequence, were not directly useful for the painter using pigments. In paint mixing, or subtractive color mixing, one theoretically begins with white and ends with black – the color darkening as each color is added to a mixture. And, unlike sources of light, pigments never emit energy on their own but reflect light they receive from an outside source. This has presented unique challenges for any student of color attempting to master the rewards of a limited palette.

The entirety of color theory, from the Pythagorian (and Newtonian) connection between color and sound waves to the linear, and more recently, non linear color diagrams – to the systems of the Indian Chakras and Chinese “equivalents” based on the elements – lies quite outside the scope of this passage.

In this, the introduction to our discussion of primary pigments, we will begin somewhat late in the theoretical timeline. In his Ratio Colorandi of 1435, Renaissance man Leon Battista Alberti chose the four colors yellow, green, blue and red as his primaries for paint mixing (he later removed yellow from his list of primaries, replacing it with…gray). It was not until a century later that Leonardo da Vinci reinstated yellow in the sequence of green, blue and red. He acknowledged the duality of green as a primary color in terms of light, and a secondary color in painting (created from primary pigments blue and red). There were subsequent attempts to tabulate compendiums of all naturally occurring, unmixed colors, but ultimately the desire for a model based on a limited palette prevailed. By the 18th century, when mathematician Tobias Mayer formulated his color triangle using three “pure” colors – red, yellow, blue – these had been universally accepted by painters as the true primaries.

Few artists from the 19th century to today demand pure spectral colors. Wehlte offers the German painter Muhlberg as an exception – using only the pigments madder, cobalt yellow, and cobalt blue in the early 20th century.

Still, The colors that painters use are, almost universally, shades – adulterated by white, black or a “complementary” color (as was popular with the Impressionists), making the colors appear turbid.

Specific shades are usually created instinctively with various components, making an exact recreation of certain mixtures quite difficult. A core principle of color mixing is that a desired shade is ideally achieved as closely as possible by mixing only two components – a third color used only for final adjustment. The take away – with every new component added, some reflected light is subtracted.

This very concept of paint mixing is what makes the pigment choice of artists so fascinating. They know that with every addition, something is lost from their color. This is not always undesirable – Lapis lazuli was thought at times to be too pure, too piercing – capable of throwing a composition off balance.

Of course, an artist’s choice of materials was not simply a matter of personal preference and optical quality. External factors such as wealth, politics, trade, and of course technology played a part in how the work of one artist or geographical region fundamentally looked…

Sources and suggested reading

“The Materials and Techniques of Painting” by Kurt Wehlte. Kremer. 1975.
(BOWEHLTE REPRINT)

R. D. Harley, Artists’ Pigments c. 1600–1835: A Study in Documentary Sources, 2d ed. (London, 1982)
(BOHARLEY)

Leslie Carlyle, The Artist’s Assistant: Oil Painting Instruction Manuals and Handbooks in Britain, 1800–1900, with Reference to Selected Eighteenth-Century Sources (London, 2001)
(BOCARLYLE)

Jo Kirby, Susie Nash, Joanna Cannon (Ed.), Trade in Artists’ Materials: Markets and Commerce in Europe to 1700. Archetype Publications Ltd, London (28 Feb 2010)
(BOKIRBY-TRADE)

Roger Keyes and Elizabeth Coombs, “Color as Language in Traditional Japanese Prints”. The Broad Spectrum: Studies in the Materials, Techniques and Conservation of Color on Paper . Harriet K. Stratis and Britt Salvesen eds. London: Archtype, 2002. 184-189.
(BOSTRATIS)

Klaus Stromer, Color Systems in Art and Science. Edition Farbe, 1999.

Klaus Stromer, Traditions and colors. 1st edition. 2000.

Alexander Theroux, The Primary Colors: Three Essays. Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1994.

http://www.gutenberg-e.org/lowengard/ The Creation of Color in Eighteenth Century Europe by Sarah Lowengard