Color Relativity and Josef Albers

Local Color vs. Relative Color

• Local Color – Actual color on the surface of an object at full light.

• Relative Color – Local color as affected by light or surrounding hues.

How does the idea of relativity relate?

• Chevereul – The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors 1839

• Afterimage (successive contrast) – after saturating the eye with a color and looking away, the eye will balance itself by creating an afterimage of that color’s complement even when the hue is not present.

Other findings:• Simultaneous Contrast:– Using the idea of “afterimage,” simultaneous contrast

refers to how a surrounding color affects a local color by forcing it’s complement.

Contrast Reversal

• Much like afterimage, however an entire design reverses color when the eye looks away to a blank area.

Josef Albers• German Painter and Educator in the Bauhaus

and later in the United States.• Interaction of Color 1963 – outlines specific

exercises in color for students focusing on aspects of color interaction.

Principles of Color Interaction(Can function separately or simultaneously)

• Light/Dark Value Contrast– Color will appear darker on a lighter ground

and lighter on a darker ground

• Complementary Reaction or Effect– When the eye “seeks” the complement of

the dominant color in the relative color• Subtraction– The dominant color subtracts itself from

the relative color– Equation based: YO-O=Y, BV-V=B, etc.

Light/Dark Shift:

Complementary Shift:

Subtraction:

Make 2 Colors Appear Similar:

Make 2 Colors Appear Similar: