2020-08-01 Artists & Illustrators

68 Artists&Illustrators

COLOUR THEORY

rectangleatthetopseemtooccupy

thesameforegroundplane.Here,

thespatiallogicofthecolourruns

countertothatoflinetomakea

muchflatterimage.

IDEASINPRACTICE

TraditionalWesternlandscape

paintingrequiresa convincing

depictionofdeepspace,asshown

ina 19th-centurypaintingbyGeorge

Inness,A BitoftheRomanAqueduct

[seepage67].Herecolour

consistentlyservesspatialillusion.

A smallpatchofred(theonly

prismaticcolourintheentirepainting)

enlivenstheforeground.Thatred,

alongwitha richrussetorangeand

a fewstarkwhites,helpsestablish

nearness.Asyoulookbetweenthe

treesandintothedistance,the

coloursdiminishinsaturationwhile

thesubjectmattershrinksinscale.

Finally,thefardistanthillsare

renderedincoollighttonesof

chromaticgrey.Thepictureplane

itselfbecomesinvisibleandthe

painting,a windowintoa world.

ContrastthiswithMarsden

Hartley’spainting,MountKatahdin,

Autumn,No. 2 [above].Herethe

emphasisis onimmediacyanda

dualisticconceptofpicturemaking

thatplacesequalstressonthe

subjectmatterandthepsychological

impactofrawcolourandshape.

It’simpossibletolookdeeplyinto

thispainting.Colouris notarranged

tofosteranillusion,butratherto

announceitselfdirectlytothe

viewer’snervoussystem.

Whilethepropertiesofhue,value,

andsaturationcanbeappliedto

createtheillusionofspaceona

two-dimensionalsurface,the

relationshipbetweencolourand

spaceis oftencomplicatedby

circumstance.Therelationalnature

ofcolour,theinfluenceoflineand

shape,andphysicalphenomenasuch

astranslucencyandtextureinteract

inwaysthatdemandattention.

Thisis anextractfromDavid’sbook,

Colour:A WorkshopforArtistsand

Designers, thethirdeditionofwhichis

publishedin AugustbyLaurenceKing,

£24.99.www.laurenceking.com

ABOVE Marsden
Hartley, Mount
Katahdin, Autumn,
No. 2, 1 9 3 9 - ’4 0,
oil on canvas,
77x102cm

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK