TOWARD A NEW VIEWPOINT FOR THE ARTIST

Abstract

ABSTRACTCommunication between the artist and the scientific and technological community has been so tenuous during the past 50 years that the artist is not using knowledge and techniques which originate in that world. Conversely, the scientists and technicians have little insight into the problems of artists, making it difficult for the artist to obtain information he knows he needs. Some of the concepts and techniques valuable to artists are outlined in this paper with a special emphasis on those relating to color.Artists' pigments and vehicles are rapidly changing. Channels of information are needed to keep him current and knowledgable. The artist must use both additive and subtractive color simultaneously, since the visual world he utilizes in creating a picture consists largely of additive situations, but the mixture of his paints is a subtractive process. Metamerism is a problem for the artist as it is in color matching for industry. Color systems, although long known, have never been adequately utilized. The Munsell system is the most practical one at the present time for several reasons. Expanding the Munsell notation to include a relative intensity dimension for pigments would add to its usefulness. A color slide rule and a table of approximate chroma loss between pairs of additive colors are proposed to aid the artist in creating depth effects, illumination effects and transparency effects. The artist should be practical in obtaining and using the facts of paint technology, but flexible in the application of systematic color in order to keep his options open. The use of color systems and techniques, while of value to every artist, can be used at many levels for differing purposes. Such concepts must be tailored to the individual artist's needs.