Color and Light Chapter 1 - Tradition

OLD MASTERS

             The Academic Tradition

In the nineteenth century, revolutions in scientific technology encouraged artists to apply them in their paintings. Michel-Eugene Chevreul showed that we perceive colors in relation to one another and not as individual components. Hermann von Helmholtz shows that we perceive colors not as they are, but as they come into our eye - thus changing the way color is used with light and atmosphere.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Color is perceived differently when it is lighted differently

"When you draw, form is the important thing. But in painting the first thing is to look for the general impression of color..." Jean-Leon Gerome

New technology also created new colors and new paint tubes, which encouraged artists to paint outside.

             Open-Air Painting in Britain

Painting outside was critical to keeping the elements of light and color true to reality.

               The Hudson River School

"[The] light... seemed to emanate from within the picture itself." James Gurney

Twilight in the Wilderness
Frederic Church
Focus on a desire to create natural, yet dramatic lighting.

Painting outdoors was critical to achieving a natural look. Painters from this school would travel to far destinations to capture the look they wanted.

              Plein-Air Movements

Plein-Air Painting is a style of outdoor painting that has a strong sense of open air.

Elio Camacho

              Symbolist Dreams

Symbolist painters used carefully selected, and sometimes limited, colors. Their work often revolves around despair and human tragedy. 

The Wounded Angel
Hugo Simberg
Focus on despair, limited color.