Warm/cool visual forces

[Einion]

Since a picture is worth a thousand words welcome to my 3,000-word post! In a recent discussion with Larry we debated about warm colours advancing and cool receding so I thought I'd illustrate my point with examples. I'm restricting myself to paintings because I didn't want any dispute about an effect being inherent to photographs only.

First example is by Gérôme, a detail from The Grey Cardinal. A couple of things to note here, first, the warmest hue for some (fairly rich in chroma) is the figure in yellow near the top of the stairs, yet it quite clearly inhabits the correct plane of the picture. Second, look at the foreground grouping: it has a figure in black flanked by two clothed in red yet he is clearly closer to the viewer than they (also despite black being a 'hole' in the visual plane!) The figure immediately to his right is also clearly closer to us than the bishop's cloak.



Next we come to the portrait of Princesse Albert de Broglie by Ingres which I think is particularly interesting since the blue of the dress and the mustard yellow of the brocade chair have no trouble occupying the same visual plane, despite being nearly directly 'opposite' in temperature.



Still in the 19th century, Confidences by Alma-Tadema. Of particular note is the lily(?) silhouetted against the fiery red of the wall - no doubt about which is closer is there? This picture clearly shows that a 'hot' background can work with cool foreground - ALL the foreground elements are cooler!



More examples in the next post.

Einion

[Einion]

Back to the present, a painting by Robert Vickrey. The warmest hue is clearly the child's skin, yet the plane of the ground, the bicycle and its shadow are all visually closer. Also worth noting is the ground, uniform in hue from foreground to background but differences in detail and handling, the leaf shadows and other elements like the painted line helping to support the illusion of depth.



Now two images, the left by Sir George Clausen, The Girl at the Gate, the right by Willem van Aelst. Both have cool foreground objects competing with warmer backgrounds. Both work perfectly well don't you agree?



This next example is Reverie by William Whitaker. The blue cloth fairly leaps forward doesn't it?



Lastly, two paintings by Richard Sloane. Triple Threat on the right does appear to illustrate Larry's point but I maintain that had the leaves in front been a cool dark green they could be made to come forward just as well because other visual effects are far more dominant, as we've seen. The image on the left, Looking For Trouble, distinctly shows that cool colours do not necessarily recede; would anyone dispute that the parrots are clearly closer than the leaves behind them? Yet they are predominantly very cool indeed.



Einion

[bri]

Thanks for those pics...that Alma-Tadema is a rich one.

.............hot blues.........cool reds.........

~bri

-------------------------------------


Please sir, may I have some more
of that Fe............................304

[TeAnne]

They are all gorgeous paintings. And yes, I agree with you, especially the red wall one.

[LarrySeiler]

I labored to comment on each painting you had here Enion, but when I submitted for some reason a page expired window came up and I lost everything. So my comments this second time around will be more brief, and I might take a break to come back.

"The Grey Cardinal"

Here we see an interesting and typical device of angles and diagonals converging with the handrailings to direct attention and gaze like an arrow toward one of importance on that upper level. Note that where the artist wants most attention drawn, he has opted to paint a figure whose garment is yellow, and thus quite warm in temperature.

The reds are cooler...and especially played down in value, in fact that whole foreground is played down in value. Since the overall color mood and harmony of the painting is one that is warm, thus psychologically inviting...to have painted those figures cool would have been too much a contrast and gaudy. It would have disrupted such harmony. Thus, these reds are about as cool as the artist can get without such distraction and gaudiness. Yet at the place the artist wants our attention most, is this yellow figure and lightest value of the white next to him.

When I say that a warm color advances and a cool color recedes, one I did not invent such theory but promote and use it, two... I mean in even a greater way that such an application will shout to the viewer "look at me!" it commands our attention. In such a way then, it leaps out at us.

IN spite of the principles of perspective, and overlapping of shapes that figure commands our attention. The long flowing reddish gown of the right figure, the curvature of the shoulders, and the yellow on right really work to point our attention to the presence of one we cannot see.

Here is a graphic showing us this strongest attempt of the artist to move the viewer's eye. It begins with a red warmer than the other reds, yet the warmest color (yellow) at the top where the eye is then led to the right.


Why yellow at the turn of that arrow though? Why not if the person out of view to the right were so important, put the yellow to the farther right? Well...then that yellow would command so much attention, it would throw the picture's compositional balance off. The yellow commands attention, and its position maintains picture balance and emphasis.

There is a cool color figure about in the middle, yet sufficiently neutral so as to not command too much attention. So that he fits into the painting with the principle of color notation and rhythm, the artist finds a few other places to hint a similar cool color such as the square on the farthest back wall to the upper right, the figure on the stairwell, etc; by the same token so that the yellow figure is not isolated...he weaves it into the paintings overall presence by making the figures shoulder banner to the left yellow, yet subdued to subordinate, and one figure's hair, etc; So the artist is concerned about bouncing color around to balance as well.

So...I see the principles of overlapping, general rules of perspective place that figure further in the background as you note...yet, of all figures in this painting try to ignore that yellow person. You cannot. The eye path converges upon him as I have noted. Again...warm commands our attention, it advances toward us, and the artist used that principle to isolate and make prominent this particular figure.

Now...considering what happened to me before.... grrrrrrrr, I will submit this reply, and begin the next response!

Please be patient with me.....

Larry

[bri]

I actually find The Grey Cardinal to be garish and a sort of jumble of values...not that this observation is tightly bound to the subject at hand, but if it weren't for the inclusion of Captain Morgan, (yes, there he is on the left in the well painted area) I'd turn from it immediately.

Viewing it also stresses my lumbar region.

...and how about that Tadema. I never thought I'd see a pair of blueberry slippers, but there they are...truly tasty paint there.

[LarrySeiler]

First of all, there is a reason the blue dress and chair can exist in the same plane....actually a number of reasons, and do not discount at all that color can be used to advance or recede. In fact, I'll point out where Ingres made use of that principle in this work.

One reason first off that they exist in the same plane is the basic principle of perspective and depth placement. The are both visual masses, and both placed in the foreground.

Now...Ingres knows that alone is not enough. A painting to be a good painting like a good piece of music requires harmony and color rhythm...so if you use color, you must or ought to repeat it even if very subtlely elsewhere.

Note carefully that this blue dress reveals hints of the yellow found in the chair...on creases and folds nearer to the bottom of the chair. Not only does that warm up those areas by so doing, but it repeats thus establishes color rhythm. But...more importantly it pulls one object into the other and causes more integration of existing in this same plane as you point out.

Secondly, note that to render this dress, the artist places cooler colors and darker values trailing down the dress toward the floor, yet warmer blues by comparison relatively as the dress advances toward the light source 'till the highest highlight. As a result, this part of the dress commands our attention, leaps out toward the viewer or if you like, advances....as compared to the dress in shadow.

In the shadows of the elbow and fingers...Ingres hints blue, both to be reflective of the dress, but also to initiate that color rhythm principle. The cool color there works though, to push that flesh further back thus completing the illusion of being rounded.

Inspite of all that mass which is cool blue however, Ingres uses a couple devices to assure that the viewer's gaze will transfix upon her upper body ultimately, the face. The back of the chair works as a diagonal line which directs our gaze upward. The arms lead upward to the sleeve, then to the neckline and on up. While the chair is warm, it is yet darker in value...and cooler in temperature than the woman's flesh. So again, even though Ingres has used blue in the dress (for whatever reason)...he has tamed it by color noting the yellow here and there...but where when we first look at this work, and even now later find our gaze wanting to go?

Ingres intends us to look at her face and aristocratic fair skin. all lines lead up there, and ultimately the warmer lighter colors. Once again...commanding our attention, thus leaping out at the viewer.

Now, while the background is warmer in temperature than the chair, it is cooler in temperature than the chair and flesh. It also lacks detail and texture which cooperates with the principle of light, as light reveals and absence of light obscures or makes hidden. This device also works then to allow the dress WITH all its detail and texture to advance.

Thus, temperature of color is not the singular element to procure advancement, but a device relied upon quite consciously.

end this image...

Larry

[LarrySeiler]

Here...red indeed smacks us upside the head. It does very much indeed come forward, however the principle of overlapping, foreground...middleground, and background serve to nearly cause that red to trip over itself as it smacks us!

It allows quite well the greens of the plant to be contrasted as its complement, but note that the plants vase is warmer in front, and a subtle cooler green on the left side thus working to make good rendering of form. The warm and yes lighter value of that pot thus advances toward us, while the cooler green left side recedes.

Secondly, the principle of values causes the lighter flowers to stand forth...yet note how the artist has used a barrier to cushion the shock of the contrast from this red wall background to the foremost figure in blue. It would have been simply too incredulous and gaudy perhaps to have placed that figure by itself against such a wall. Thus the figure to her right is darker in value than her, also, that garment has the hint of green in its warmer tone. Green being a secondary possessing blue poses an relief and cousin to that blue, yet it near matches the yellowish decor pattern of the red wall. Thus that figure bridges and connects to the red wall, and to the blue figure preparing us for the contrast and making the transition more at ease.

Note that the pillows too make such a bridge.

Now...for that foremost figure herself, we can see how warm advancing and cool receding works to render form. Note that beneath her left breast there is a hint of yellow in the blue garment which causes that to move forward toward the viewer yet at the same token we see hints of blue on her right breast area that not only reflects the blue shawl but conveniently pushes that breast further away from us. Again note the hint of yellows in her left thigh area leading to the knee which brings that area forward, whilst the top of her right leg falls into cool shadow thus pushing that area back.

Also note, that the shadow of the crease of her left rear shoulder against the pillow has yellow throughout it bringing that shadow closer toward the viewer, whereas by contrast the shadow of the shawl resting upon her right breast is cool in color.

I get the feeling myself however, that the artist is trying to portray a fragile frail person here of some aristocratic nature. The overpowering dominance of that backwall works psychologically to make its strong presence and almost consume these figures. Her pale skin, the downplaying of strong harsh contrasting shadows, near pastel blues and similarity of values to the blouse, reddish hair...all seems to suggest daintiness to me.

Color has been studied by social engineers, sociologists and psychologists and cool colors are thought to demonstrate a withdrawn more depressed emotion. If we dress in cool colors, the suggestion is we might actually repel people not to mention our own personality might be more melancholy. On the other hand, warmer colors are inviting, etc; They have especially done such studies as pertains to which color to paint walls in hospitals, clinics, etc; Dentists are better to paint warmer colors, as cooler colors work to make patients more tense, more nervous.

Thus...her cooler color as a choice here perhaps says something about her personality as well. Withdrawn. Depressed. Needing comfort which perhaps her aide is attempting to provide. Not a socialite...or at least one not feeling as though fitting in at that role.

Sometimes artists break rules or establish tension to create an emotive transferrence to the viewer. By use of such a powerful backwall with a color that wants to advance toward the viewer, and placing the figures as I have pointed out, I believe he has successfully used tension or broken/manipulated principles to cause us to muse her vulnerability.

Larry

[LarrySeiler]

You point out that despite the boys warm flesh, we must note the objects in the foreground, the blue bike, etc., and yes...I must agree that other principles of design exist which can be manipulated to work together.

I will point out what is apparent and obvious to me, then take a break...

One...the painted line is wider at the bottom of the picture plane here than at the top, and the artist takes advantage of the viewer's mind to assume the line is in real life the same width, thus if smaller going back we presume depth. Secondly, the leaves in shadow of the foreground are notably larger than the ones in the background, thus once again a principle of perspective places them forward. Also the principle of foreground, middleground, and background places those objects forward as well.

Now...a shadow is darkest when it is closest to its source, and where there is light...light reveals. Absence of light obscures or makes hidden. Thus where the shadow is farthest from its source and opens up the heavens above, more atmospheric light is available. That more light is available implies and holds true that more "warmth" is available. The reader will observe here that the shadows of the bike are very dark, thus obviously closer to the bike. Less distance from its source means less opportunity for the warmth of the atmosphere to penetrate and make its influence known.

What I note and believe as I look at this painting as that the artist more than likely worked from a photograph. A camera which works on the basis of thru the lens metering priority diminishes color temperature and favors value. To pull in more light, the lens and film chemistry will darken the darks and diminish their importance. The problem with that is...we cannot see what is happening in the shadows.

I submit that had the artist painted this on location he would have probably observe that while the shadow was dark and thus that part of the ground hidden from the sun, that part would have been freely exposed to the influence of the blue sky above and would have revealed some cool color in that shadow. Thus, while the shadow works in the manner of values...it lacks life and comes off as a flatter work as a whole IMHO. It belies that which often marks the work of tonalists (which I once was for near 17 years and thus recognize it quite easily), whom working from photos often are not challenged by what they might see working directly from life.

If working from life...he certainly ignored the device available to him. Putting some cooler color in those shadows would not have only given greater atmospheric presence by including the influence and existence of a sky above (though we might not see that sky) but it would have conveniently created contrast as a device temperature-wise to cause that foreground in light to be stronger and more believable. Value alone in this case works only to a degree, but leaves the final image flatter.

Now...note however, that the shadows of leave in the middle ground being obviously further from its source than the shadow of the bike is not only lighter in value....but this time the artist reveals some warmth in that shadow. Chances are he would have seen this in a photo because once again a camera favors light over what happens in shadow. Since more light exists to influence that part of the shadow..the warmth might be detected.

By the same token...those leaves of the same tree that go back in the distance are darker thus suggesting being closer to its source. Absence of light is not only absence of the revealing of texture and detail, not only opportunity to make darker, but absence of the warming influence of light. Putting hints of cooler color in those shadows would have even more greatly brought life into this painting. Would have also pushed that area further back, and by comparison thus allowed the figure of the boy to come across even stronger.

Now....as to the child herself...once again I'm convinced a photo was referred to because the shadows show not only absence of light but absence of color. In real life...this does not happen. All values have color with exception of blackest blacks...but in the subtley of such shadows yes. To help render this form even more, some cooler color applied would have helped. There is the slightest hint of it, but more the reliance upon tonal values.

IN referring to the bicycle, though blue and in the foreground, note how our eyes are drawn to the child. For one...this is what the artist wants us to really see and have prominant. In this case, once again...light reveals and we see not only texture and detail...but we see light's influence of warmth...and she pops out at us. Despite the principle of perspective and the bike's placement....she gets our attention. While lighter values and detail help to create this affect, warm color as well in this case serves to cement that intention.

By the same token...why was not the bike painted red?

For one...the artist would be taking the risk that such a warm color placed in that part of the painting would throw off the pictoral balance and cause competition for the eye. How do I know this? Because even though the sun is shining and light influences objects to feel warmer he has neglected to render those parts of the bike where the light is shining. To do so, he would have to introduce warmer color...and that warmer color might compete...so he has left the bike rendered flat. By making and leaving it flat in appearance, he also causes it to be boring or less interesting in comparison to the figure.

In this case, he opts NOT to make the bike warm in color because whether he intellectually understands it or not....realizes that bike would command attention or come forward toward the viewer and compete with the subject area. Making it bluer, yet not intense in chroma....flat and intentionally less rendered he tells us a bike is there but that it is subordinate in importance and priority in constructing this work.

*whew....well, I'm going to take a break.

I hope you see what I'm getting at here Enion.

No colorist worth a grain of salt makes the mistake of ignoring the use of whatever design and composition principles there are at hand. I have never advocated such...thus I have no problem recognizing how other devices bring things forward or push back. Yet...as I have pointed out, knowing how to use color temperature can isolate what you want to prioritize. It can more adequately render. While value is needed to render, colorists do not see that absence of color is required. Absence of color takes the life out of it and makes a work flatter...less believable. IN fact, I believe all values of everything I see are a color of some kind. Simply lighter or darker....but still a color.

I don't think you have proved me wrong...but more or less have provided a platform for me to expound upon. Perhaps in so doing though, you will better understand me. I have labored to share the many devices I have seen that cause a work to work. Devices that I....uh hem, use as a "colorist" in my own work to make my works work. Not temperature alone....but as a conscious additional and all pervading device that together with other devices available to me render and make believable.

peace,

(tired....)

Larry

[Einion]

Thanks for taking all the time (twice!) my sympathies You should compose in Word or something dude! Anyone who's had that problem happen even once on a long post should take steps!

Larry I haven't ever said the warm/cool advance/recede effect doesn't work or can be used:

Originally posted by Einion
warmer hues do not necessarily appear closer or the reverse

I'm saying that it doesn't necessarily hold - otherwise you couldn't directly flaunt the 'rule' (it is stated as a firm rule let's not forget) and get away with it. Other forces - perspective, compositional flow, overlapping form, edges, saturation/value contrast and so on - are more dominant visually, which you've just explained in detail for these images, supporting my argument

Einion

[Einion]

P.S. That doesn't mean you can't choose to use it, goes back to if it works for you it works.

In relation to these pics, I wouldn't agree with all your analyses being accurate although I agree with most of it, like so many things in painting what you see and feel is important is conditioned by knowledge, prior experience, taste and preferences, i.e. you see what you want/expect to see up to a point. But they do make the point that using more than one effect to bolster a given illusion is often utilised and very effective. Perhaps that's the most important thing to remember, don't just use one device to do a certain job, use as many as you know or are appropriate in a given situation.

About the Vickrey work a couple of things. First I couldn't expect you to be familiar with him or his working method so you probably didn't know it's tempera on board. This is also scanned from his book so it's doubly removed (actually more than that, five steps at a guess!) from the reality of the actual painting which I know would be much more varied in reality from reading the text. So obviously the colour will be so distorted in the subtleties that one can't comment accurately. His working method is in studio, obviously for this medium, and he does make use of models, but his development of subject matter is very much from his imagination so compositionally you're right about a couple of things in that regard. I would for instance have rendered the edges of the leaf and bike shadows differently - soft and hard respectively - to show their relative distances, which they would in reality I'm fairly sure.

Einion

[bruin70]

contrast (in whatever context one desires to define it) first
,,,color second. btw,,,warms are almost always LIGHTER than cools.



below,,,the blue should pop out because,,,,it's bigger(contrast), brighter, and it's next to a very dark(contrast). if you see the small red square as popping out,,,,,,,,,YOU'RE WACKY!!!!. no, seriously....if you see the small red square as popping out more than the blue then i think you are simply prone to accept warms more readilly. because, in fact , both the blue square and small red square are equally bright.




balance is as one wants to see it. in the grey cardinal, i see the yellow as virtually nonexistant, and the two whites having stronger impact(contrast). and that the "balance " of the painting rests with the guard on the left,,,or right in the example below.



there are certainly"general rules of thumb",,,but it has been my experience that those "rules" tend to inhibit exploration and creativity.

....{M}

[cobalt fingers]

Animals (and we are animals too) see shapes first likely for hunting and escaping being hunted. Even in these neat examples I see the really warm colors coming forth like the red background. It fairly rolls around the figures to me. The "cools" are very warm cools and the "warms" are not very hot-are they. Some of these examples -I think are people working to break "rules". Some seems a bit strained and stilted for the effort.

The red background of the two women reclining causes a tension that is contrary to their pose-which I suggest was Gerome's intent.

[Keith Russell]

Greetings:

Einion, what I want to know is where you found those wonderful scans.

I've seen many of these images on the web before, but they've never looked as good as they do here...

Keith.

[Einion]

Tim, as I said we see what we want or expect to see!

Well noticed Keith. Photoretouching is one of the aspects of my job so in each case I corrected the images if they needed it, especially the van Aelst which was not a good scan. The reductions from the originals will have helped in some cases too, plus the unsharp-mask just before saving. A great many scans on the web are not properly done, lack of sharpness and poor tonal balance being the two most common flaws (most often seen as poor darks).

In case you're interested the original pics from Gérôme, Ingres, Alma-Tadema and Clausen are from Artrenewal.org, which I'm sure comes as no surprise. I have more than one scan of the van Aelst pic but I think I used the one from a Hungarian site, which I probably located through Artcyclopedia.com. Whitaker's is from his site of course (always top-notch scans, didn't need to touch it except to cut off the border), Vickrey's I scanned from the cover of his book (which I now realise is a crop, doh) and Sloane's two I got from a gallery of his pics I finally managed to locate.

Einion