Cartography and Art: A Comparative Study Based on Color

Leda Stamou

doi:10.3390/geographies2010007

Abstract

Color occupies a prominent place in the bibliography of cartography, as it is an important element in the formation of cartographic symbolization. Apart from the technical issues of its application to maps, color theory is one of the elements that connect maps with art. In this paper various cartographic trends and their origins are examined and correlated with the artistic periods in which they were developed in order to investigate and document the extent to which maps follow the artistic movements and, particularly in the art of painting, concerning the form and the content of the maps and whether color can be used as an identification element of the art trend and the corresponding period. The research spans from the end of the Middle Ages to the 21st century and is referred spatially in Western Europe, including Italy. The comparison of colors is made in both descriptive and quantitative terms through the commentary of hue, brightness, and saturation, as well as through plotting them in the color wheel, a process that allows an overview of the range and location of color sequences. Concluding, the paintings and maps that were selected and examined in detail support the effect of painting on maps, without implying that it is intentional.

Highlights

In the evolution of cartography, remarkable relations between cartography and art appear, during those periods when maps were created by highly skilled engravers and artists, and later
From the comparison of the color analysis, it is obvious that the color sequences are placed in the same part of the color wheel, in the area of the warm ones, with small differences in saturation
It is noteworthy that in almost all of the comparisons made, the color sequences are placed in the same part of the color wheel and have almost the same range

Summary

Introduction

In the evolution of cartography, remarkable relations between cartography and art appear, during those periods when maps were created by highly skilled engravers and artists, and later. Even during the mature period of cartography since the last decades of the 20th century, the map composition is widely related to the appearance of the map, both in terms of the symbols used, the layout, and the overall visual impression. Nowadays, cartography has been completely dominated by science and technology, without the artistic skills required as in earlier periods of the history of cartography, during the phase of cartographic composition, the cartographer is called upon to be imaginative and creative in order to support the “good map design”. The ICA “Art and Cartography Commission” has a significant role in promoting creative research and scholarly publications on art and cartography in all of its aspects, for both the academic audience and the general public

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Conclusion