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the other, the creative use of color demands color circle. There is a similar but less dramatic #/,/2!##%.4 #/,/2!##%.4
personal expression—meaning not following effect when colors are seen side by side, in which !GAINSTTHEDRABDESERTCOLORSINTHISVILLAGEONTHE 4HEPURPOSEOFTHISSHOTWASTOSHOWAMASSOF
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rules. This dualism—acknowledging that certain the eye tends to compensate; while in the color
relationships and techniques work, yet not
necessarily using them—takes us back to the
fundamental principle of balance that we looked
at in Chapter 2 (pages 32-63, specifically page 40).
If we treat harmony in the sense of pleasing,
acceptable relationships, there are two well-
established classes. One is complementary
harmony (hues across the color circle), and the
other is harmony of similarity (hues from the
same sector of the color circle). The experimental
basis for complementary harmony, which we
don’t need to go into in great detail here, rests
on successive and simultaneous contrast, and
on the arrangement of the color circle, in which
hues are laid out in sequence according to their
circle, mixing two opposites produce a neutral.
Harmony of similarity is more obvious.
Colors next to each other in any color model,
from a color circle to a three-dimensional shape
such as a Munsell solid, simply go well together
because they present no conflict. “Warm” colors,
from yellow through red, have an obvious
similarity, as do “cold” colors from blue to green,
or a group of greens, for example.
Another consideration is relative brightness.
Different hues are perceived as having different
light values, with yellow the brightest and violet
the darkest. In other words, there is no such
thing as a dark yellow, nor is there a light violet;
instead, these colors become others—ochre,
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As the color bars on page 121 show, for the most
predictable harmony, colors are combined in
inverse proportion to their light values.
Do theories of harmony mean that colors can
be discordant? Maybe. Colors can appear to some
people at some time to clash, yet to others at a
different time they may be perfectly acceptable.
The painter Kandinsky certainly thought so,
declaring in 1912 that “Clashing discord …
‘principles’ overthrown … stress and longing
… opposites and contradictions … this is our
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Color accent is an important variation on
color combinations. In the same way that a small 2ED AND'REEN 9ELLOW AND6IOLET
subject that stands out clearly from its setting
functions graphically as a point (see pages 66-69),
a small area of contrasting color has a similar
focusing effect. The color relationships that we
just looked at continue to apply, but with less
force because of the size disparity in the areas.
The most distinct effect is when the setting is
relatively colorless and the two more pure hues
occupy localized areas. This special form of color
wavelength. Simply put, in successive contrast,
if you stare at a colored patch for at least half
a minute and then shift your gaze to a blank
area of white, you will see an after-image in the
complementary color—the opposite across the
120
for example, or mauve. The German poet and
playwright J.W. von Goethe was the first to assign
values to hues—yellow as nine, orange as eight,
red and green both six, blue as four, and violet as
three—and these are still considered workable.
harmony.” Pink and lime green, for example,
may not be everyone’s idea of color harmony,
but if you like kitsch, and in particular the
Japanese “cute” use of it, their combination is
close to ideal.
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contrast inevitably gives greater prominence to 9ELLOW 2ED AND"LUE
what painters call “local color”—the supposedly
true color of an object seen in neutral lighting,
without the influence of color cast. Color accents
above all stress object color.
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