History of Colour in Art

History of distort in inventionThe aim of tint in history has gone through and through a long story. It has been utilise because of its readiness in altering mood and atmosphere, and also because of its symbolic meanings. The earliest know usage of color in interior dummy started when man drew on walls of caves and tombs, which continues with the application on duomos, palaces, and ordinary homes.History of act uponThe usage of deform has been involved in the designerural develop ment in ancient Egypt and classicals. It has been utilise loosely because of the association of intensity with certain symbolism in the cultures.Ancient Egypt, one of the closely documented civilizations, employ paintings on walls and ceilings in order to tell the story of their civilization, from daily life to battle scenes. Earth pigments argon used in creating these paintings loss, yellow ochre, also green, blue, purple, dark, white, and gray. Each food coloring is used to symbolise certain criterias, for work turn out red ocher for skin intensityation of men, while yellow is used for the women. term in the Greek history, the Palace of Knossos, is a distinct example of the use of falsify in its architecture. The most outstanding frolic in the building is its large red and black columns. Palace of Knossos, GreeceColour has been widely used in the past, but this tradition doesnt al bearings go well along the development in architecture.The Lost of ColourBeing used and developed throughout the early civilization, coloring arrived at a point time when its use is being ignored. The situation is caused by several reasons, such as the lore of whiteness, and how this paper is beef up by the emergence of the Modern Movement and International dah, who p notered the subjective colour of the materials, and later on the psyche of black, white, and gray in Minimalism. These movements has changed peoples illumine of colour and thus resulting avoidance in its application.Whiteness though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. BibleThe colour white, through assorted cultures, has been associated with perfection, innocence, and cleanliness. Colour, on the other hand, is seed as the opposite of whiteness, which is dirtiness and the less-than-true. The word colour, which is colorem in Latin, is related to cel are, pith to hide or conceal. In Middle English to colour means to disguise.The Modern Movement, International Style and MinimalismRejection of colour, partly is also formed by the influence of Modern Movement and International Style, which oftentimes termed their works as minimal. In this period, light and neutral tones are preferred in the lacuna. White is the most dominant colour because it allows colour and light in the sur measureing echos into the distance and that it is felt as intrinsic colour. Colour, on the other hand, is being avoided because it makes a striking contrast with the surrounding. Even in times when it is used, colour is still artificially utilizeand the majority of the surfaces is white.The famous people in this period are Mies caravan der Rohe and Walter Gropius. Their works, reflecting the idea of Modern Movement, shows restraint use of colour. Instead of apply colors, they use the genuine colour and caryopsis from the materials used, such as steel, glass, concrete, masonry, and stone, which dominates their works.Minimalism, another architectural style, is also some(prenominal) associated with the use of white. The term minimalism is applied to works showing reduction in forms, usually acquired with flat surfaces that reflect a simple and peaceful atmosphere. White colour is chosen as the most dominant colour, since it is seen as colour with pure, smooth, and serene quality, and therefore goes along with the idea of calmness and tranquillity in minimalism. Samuel Wagstaff, an art curator, mentioned that this new aesthetics in black, white, and gray, is aimed to bind the witness from being biased by the emotionalism of colour. So, white colour, along with black and gray are preferred to be used here.ChromophobiaThe comprehension of white and the modern art movement influence has a causal relation to what David Batchelor mentioned as chromophobia. Chromophobia, found on David Batchelor, is delimitate as a maintenance of decadence or contamination through colour. He mentioned that chromophobia manifests itself in the legion(predicate) and varied attempts to purge colour from culture, to underestimate colour, to diminish its significance, to abnegate its complexity . ( Batchelor, David, 2000)The rejection of colour happens in two ways. First, colour is make out of inappropriate body- usually the feminine, the vulgar, .In this case, colour is handle as something foreign, something alien( Batchelor, David, 2000 ) so that it is asked dangerous. Charles Blanc, a colour theorist, identified colour with the feminine in art an d as something that cannot be detached from life. Not just that, he level(p) consider colour as a permanent internal threat. Therefore, he came up with the idea of either altogether ignoring colour or controlling it, in order to preventing it from ruining everything.Charles Blanc is not the only chromophobic. The idea of fear of colour has also swept the society and therefore had its impact to architectural design. A few cases of the rejection of colour in the past have been experienced by architects. It happened to Belgian architect Huib Hoste, who throughout his career has been experimenting with act upon in his works. One of his works, the Zwart Huis ( Black House ), which is pretendd for Raymond de Beir Knokke in 1924 is painted deep black and partly red for its walls. Complains came from the neighbours who felt uncomfort equal to(p) by the too-striking-colours and on how it broke the harmony within the surrounding environment. In 2001, a similar problem occured with the wor k by MVRDV. Designing an entire orange office building in a courtyard in Amsterdam, provoked dissapproval from the neighbours who felt annoyed with the orange glow that forced its way to the surrounding homes. Everything around you is orange you didnt ask for it, you didnt want it, but you cant do anything about it, they said. (Colour in Contemporary computer architecture, 2009)According to David Batchelor, the word chromophobia, other than defining colour as dangerous, is also used for the idea of colour as something superficial, supplementary, and as a secondary quality of experience, which leads to lack of servant in its usage. This hadhappened even in ancient times, when Vitruvius complained that buildings were painted without considering its relation with the architectural form, which means there was not much consideration put in the thought process therefore resulting an unsatisfying project.Rejection for colour has become a effective problem and therefore cause the lost o f colour.THESIS STATEMENT Colour once is considered as an afterthought, that it ends up as decorative elements. It also has been considered dangerous. just considering the ability of colour in changing information and mood, there might be a chance to create a more emotive architecture than those without colour. So, should we refresh the role of colour in architecture?BODYColour in ArchitectureThe impulse of using colour in architecture emerged in 1920s, inspired by paintings. Three architects who were known to use colour in their works in this period are Le Corbusier, Theo van Doesburg, and Bruno Taut, but to each one architect has contrasting approach in applying colour in their works.Theo van Doesburg, is the member of De Stijl Movement, an eventful accomplishment in applying colour in architecture. Other movements using colour as their conceptual design basis are Constructivism and Expressionism. In De Stijl, colour is considered as an important element and is developed as a tool in creating a new spatial experience. The goal of the movement is to get through an ideal future where walls that separate men would be broken down. The architects of De Stijl believe that the three-dimensional properties of mass and volume is against the goal of the movement, and in order to achieve their goal, these characteristics must be broken down by using colours. The method they used is to place colour planes on corners and boundaries, resulting a change in the volume of space. Here, colours were used not just as mere decoration, but it also plays an important part in altering the visual experience of the drug user spatially.However, Le Corbusier called van Doesburg application on colour as camouflage architectural and disagreed with the use of colour to weakens the physical space or to conceal its actual spatial proportions.Villa la Roche, Le Corbusier Opposing the idea, in his work, Le Corbusier coloured the entire wall surfaces to make them an individual element s, so that it would not disturb the spatial effect of the architecture. These coloured walls were used as an intervention against the mostly painted white spaces in the building. The colours here, as Batchelor commented, was used by Le Corbusier to make his architecture even more white.Having a contrastive approach with his two fellows architects, Bruno Tauts intention was to use colour as an agent of social reform. His goal was to create various identities in a large housing estates, where people from overcrowded flats in the gutsyard of Berlin will be the occupants of the building. (Komossa, Susanne, 2009)Although the novel of white appeared not long after these colour methods were being used, architects such as Louis Barragan emerged into class period and back with the idea of colour as an essential element, opposing the idea of colouras decorations. His choice of colours mostly reflects the colours of Mexican culture. Through his works, Barragan proved how the use of colours are able to submit dreamlike and surreal atmosphere. Another renowned colour architect is Ricardo Legorreta. Inspired by the 20th ampere-second mural paintings, Legorreta uses many bright colours in his works and proves that colours can emphasize shapes and deny mass of the buildings.From time to time, along with the gradual loss of Modern Movement influence, colour slowly made its way back to architectural design. Herzog de Meuron, for example, coloured their first house in Basle suburb with blue point that engages the viewer.Looking at how colours are being considered more deeply in architecture nowadays, and how it is eer being moved away from the idea of a mere decoration to elements that can alter perception of the viewer, the use of colour has achieved a diverse state than it used to be. And in this sense, just as mentioned by Rem Koolhas, the future of colour is looking bright.Visible position Seeing Colour1.1 Perception of SpacePerception is a critical connection be tween human and their surrounding environment. It can also refer to a more complicated and higher level of thinking process. Perception enables human beings to decide what has been comprehend and analyze that sensation. Beside digesting the information received from the sensors, perception also acts as a filter that classify important and useful information.In architectural design, whose works mainly is about the creation of space, perception of space is only important. In order to perceive the space, one must firstly sense the space. To sense a space is to become aware of own self existence in the space and therefore one is able to distinguish between the self and the surrounding. This can be done using human senses, which are hearing, seeing, smell, taste, and touch. But as we always hear, Seeing is believing, visual perception is very important in shaping perception of space. Here, colour takes a major role.1.2 The eye and the colour Take a good look round and youll see that e verything is coloured. K. SchippersColour, dissolving perfectly in our life, may seem as a very conventionality experience. But it actually is a very important aspect in our vision because it plays a volumed part in shaping our visual perception. So what is colour?Colour, in physics and optics, are defined as component parts of light. Being able to see colour enables human see many more different things under the light, comparing to what might possibly be seen in only sunglasses of gray ( known as monochromatic vision). Some animals, such as dogs, dont experience colour vision. This school cause they can only spot other creatures, for example rabbits, only if it moves.The experience of seeing colour will not be possible if not because of the assistance of light in our vision. Our eye perceive differences in light frequencies just as how we perceive differences in vowelize frequencies withour ears. While differences in sound frequencies enable us to hear different pitch, differ ences in light frequencies enable us to see different colour. The colour field that human perceive ranges from the longest visible wavelength (red) to the shortest visible wavelength (violet).Light, in various wavelength and brightness, enters our eyes through a transparent outer covering, called the cornea. The received light then will be pore on the back of the surface of the eye. The back of the eye is covered by the retina, which contain many degrees of cells. The layer which is important in colour vision consist two receptors called rods and cones. Rods enable us to see black and white visions in dim light, while cones enable us to see hues under brighter lighting condition. Hence, through these series of mechanisms, we are able to see colour.Colour and LightArchitecture is light. It is because of light, architecture can be seen. In its relation with colour, light always assists colour enabling it to be seen. both colour and light are important aspects in creating perception in architecture.Light, enabling colour to be seen, determines the experience of the colour perceived. The condition of light and the changes it made its direction, form, colour, and its arrangement has a authorization to create various colour perception. Considering the opening night of changes in perceiving colour based on the lighting condition, various kinds of atmosphere might be created. Both natural and artificial lighting is able to be used in assisting colour in the space.The perception of colour under the cheer can vary depends on the atmospheric condition. The direction of the sunlight has to be considered in order to create a desirable colour perceived in space. Direct sunlight can make surfaces appear lighter, while the indirect sunlight will cause less striking shadow casting. Since the sun moves throughout the day, different kinds of light will be experienced. Different lights will reflect colour differently, resulting the same colour might be perceived differently during different time of the day.An annotation of how light affects the colour perceived has been done by the French Impressionist, Claude Monet, in creating his works. In order to specify the visual truth, Monet often painted the exact same scenes, such as haystacks and cathedral face, under different lighting condition. Once, he rented a room opposite Rouen Cathedral and spent months there painting the cathedral in different times of the day. It appeared that in full midday sunlight , the facade of the building is washed with gold colour and a slight blue shadow. While at sunset, the surface is coloured parboil bluish pink, with slews of oranges and reds in the buildings recesses.Colour and Atmosphere Towards Emotive ArchitectureColour DeceivesThe usage of colour is often associated with its ability in creating illusion. Based on Joseph Albers book, Interaction of Colour, colour in visual perception is always never seen as it really is in reality, which is why he mentioned, In order to use colour effectively it is necessary to recognise that colour deceives continually The ability of colour in deceiving the viewer resulting two kinds of conditions the actual and thefactual. The actual is the space which is perceived by the viewer, while the factual is the physical space bordered by walls in reality.The ability of colour to change spatial perception is also create verbally in Ittens depth psychology, Among cold and warm tones of equal brilliance, the warm will advance and the cold retreat.By recognizing the potential of colour in terms of altering perception of space through vision of the viewers, colour has vast opportunities in being used as the resource in creating space.Colour Affects Physiology and PsychologyColour is known as an expressive element and can be used to generate emotional response. Studies on how colour can change peoples emotion has been conducted by people. Bright colours ( warm hues ) fit well for spaces requiring lots of activi ties and mental alertness, therefore these colours are often being used in school environments. While on the other hand, cooler hues tend to calm people. In his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky did analysis on the sensory effects in colour. He found that bright and warm colours drag greater attention and the visual emotion created by these tones generates physical effect that touches the soul.Realizing the potential of colour in altering emotion, people used it as a tool in healing. Chromo therapy, or colour therapy, is the practice of using coloured light and colour in the environment to cure specific illness and in general to bring about beneficial health effect ( Hope and Walch, 1990, p.75). The study on chromo therapy is based on thediscovery of how our bodies, acting like prisms, absorb white light and other colours, too. The therapy involves the use of natural light that is filtered through a certain colour of glass. For example, patient with migraine will b e treated with sunlight filtered through blue glass, and depression can be treated with red light.Emotive ArchitectureEmotive architecture, is usually defined as buildings and spaces that is purposefully built to provoke emotional response from the users. The idea came up from the feeling of too functional architecture in the 20th century, which created the space with much logical system and utility.Case StudyLuis Barragan In my activity as an architect, colour and light have always been a crucially important constant. Both are basic elements in the creation of an architectural space. Luis BarraganLuis Barragan learned much from the work of Itten who is devoted to the laws of harmony, contrast, and the spatial effect of colours. In his works, Barragan treated colour the same way as other architectural components and he bravely experiments and utilizes its ability in generating sensations in the space.His works on The Gilardi House, domicil of Francisco Gilardi, showed a skillful c onsideration in assisting colour with light in the space. The method of the colour used here, such as achieving brighter or softer hues through direct and indirect lighting, using coloured glass to create chromatic ambience, has been experimented in his earlier works. In the dwelling, Barragan continued his experiment in utilizing white light in the space and how it landed on the coloured vertical sections.A yellow-painted corridor is placed nearby the entrance in order to prepare the journey to an important space. Walking down the corridor, the visitor is faced with a give out blue space. The contrast between the warm and cool colour is aimed to arrest the visitors vision. The visitor then comes out into the space with pool which is surrounded by three primary colours blue, red, yellow. The whole composition of this space is supported by the coloured surfaces around the pool and the reflections created by the water.Steven HollFamous for his method of utilizing light in the space, Steven Holl is also do a lot of experimentations on its relation withcolour. In his work The Chapel of St, Ignatius, for example, Steven Holl used the idea of treating the space like seven bottles of light. Each bottle is pierced with light which define each spaces inside the building with coloured light.