writing | DALIA ATTEYA

Colour

An essay that explores colour as perceived by various disciplines of art - by Dalia Atteya, MA Painting, Wimbledon College of Arts

I. Colour has been the obsession of many artists across disciplines and time.

Even Mark Rothko, who, in his own words, is not interested in the relationship of colour or forms or anything else, had used colour as a vehicle for mood and emotion and allowed it a greater licence. (The Getty Research Institute Publications Program, 2005, p. 101), (The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation , 1994, p. 12)
Colour has been an area open for investigation since ancient history; either knowingly or unknowingly, artists have been investigating and exploring the way it operates to communicate emotions, express feelings, or otherwise.
When one speaks about artists, one should refer not only to visual artist, but also to artists from other disciplines, such as writers and filmmakers. In this essay I will explore the various ways colour has been deployed by various artists as a tool to convey emotions, impress and hold audience attention or as a subject matter in itself.

COLOUR VS. BLACK AND WHITE

OZ the Great and Powerful (Film 2013)

A spiritual tribute to the (1939) The Wizard of Oz, according to Batchelor’s Chromophobia (BATCHELOR, David, 2011, p 40), when Dorothy was scooped from Kansas (the grey land) to the Land of Oz (the colour land), this was to celebrate the joy of leaving the greyness and entering the colour and of making a new life in the ‘place where there isn’t any trouble’. In “OZ the Great and Powerful”, the lead character Oscar Diggs (referred to as OZ), was an imposter magician in Kansas, and in spite of that, wanted to be a great man! Diggs was swooped by a tornado into the Land of Oz, where the film plot continues. The film starts in monochrome, and at exactly 19:45 minutes, from and including the opening credits, the film bursts into spectacular colour. The transcendence into the spectacular colourful Land of Oz was to announce and celebrate the beginning of a new man or maybe to announce the beginning of fun and joy. The following clip shows, the transformation from monochrome to colour, and the way colour was used excessively in celebration of the new man Oscar Diggs was about to become.

Figure 1: Various Clips from "Oz the Great and Powerful". Film by Sam Raimi, 2013

ARTISTS OBSERVING COLOUR

Edouard Manet and Impressionism 1867 -1886

A 19th century movement, which development was lead by the French artist Edouard Manet, please see (figure 2). The technique was different from the traditional European painting, where it depended on capturing a glimpse of an object or scene, rendering more focus to the colour rather than the subject matter itself. Impressionism featured vibrant colours.

Georges Seurat and Pointillism

Later, “Pointillism” was developed from impressionism and was lead by Georges Seurat. The 21-years old painter devised a technique whereby he used little, equally sized points of colour to give the painting a greater sense of vibrancy. A viewer’s mind would not analyse the dots from a distance, however, would see a vibrant, colourful painting. An example is “Bathers at Asnières” (figure 3), hanging in room 41 at the National Gallery, London.

Here we see artists deploying colour as a tool to outline their ideas, if not being the primary focus of their artwork.

Figure 3: In the Conservatory, by Edouard Manet. Oil on canvas,1.5m x 1.5m. 1878-1879,

Figure 4: Bathers at Asnières, by Georges Seurat. Oil on canvas, 2.01m x 3 m. 1884

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887- 1986)

In addition to skill and technique, colour was a docile tool in the hands of Georgia O'Keefe. Sometimes she used subtle colours (figure 5), others she used contrasting colours (figure 6) to create vibrant paintings.

In figure 5, O’Keeffe, used gradations of colour to connect objects together that are not harmonious in size, in a mythical landscape. As is the name of the painting [From the Faraway, Nearby], O’Keeffe used the background colours in the foreground and in the animal horn alternately, in a way that pushes one back and brings them forward again and again. The tactful use of colour deepened one’s feeling of distance; yet closeness.

Figure 6, this is not a corn as we know it; O’keeffe blended warm and cold colours to create an image closer to an abstract than a plant. The colours were arranged carefully in the centre and around the corners, but would eventually lead the viewer to gaze at the centre of the painting and for a moment one would focus on the pink brush stroke at the top right corner. The result is a - somewhat - hypnotizing painting.

Figure 5: From the Faraway, Nearby, 1937. Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 101.9 cm. Georgia O'keeffe

Figure 6: Corn No. 2, 1924. Georgia O'Keeffe. Oil on canvas, (69.2 x 25x.4 cm)

II. Not only that, painters pushed the limits even further; they used pigment and substance to create a new meaning and mood

COLOUR IN ITSELF

Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967)

Ad Reinhardt pushed the limits even further; Reinhardt created paintings where the main concern was the matter of “seeing” the art; not communicating ideas, feelings or anything else.

His painting [Abstract Painting (1963)] was a clear manifestation of this idea. At the first instance the painting appears black to the naked eye. Yet as one gazes longer, one would see perpendicular strips of dark blue and dark red. In order to achieve this, Reinhardt, soaked the oil paint in turpentine for 3 weeks. After 3 weeks when the pigment had resided at the bottom of the container, Reinhardt strained the turpentine. The result was a free-of-glaze paint, hence, the painting came in matt dark colours, and no matter how strong the lights are in the room, it would never bounce off the painting. The painting absorbs light.

Figure 7: Abstract Painting (1963), by Ad Reinhardt, oil on canvas 60 x 60 inch

Anish Kapoor (1954)

Figure 8: To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red, by Anish Kapoor, 1981, mixed media

In an interview on the background of his solo show [Descension], Kapoor expressed his interest in colour and stated that in order to deal with it, he wanted to create a “condition” of colour. (KAPOOR, Anish, 2015). Therefore, Kapoor created pieces using sculpture and pigment, he did not want to present colour as paint on surface, but rather as an object in itself.

Both Reinhardt and Kapoor were more concerned with the process. Reinhardt industrialized colour, while Kapoor, relied on the scientific aspect of it. Both used saturated colours.

COLOUR AND LITERATURE

Huysman & Batchelor

In his Novel “À Rebours” / “Against Nature”, Huysman portrayed “Des Esseintes” as someone who tries to achieve certain state of aesthetician by enveloping himself with an all-colour atmosphere. Des Esseintes, possessed an oriental carpet gleaming with colour, and one day he decided to add an object dark enough to set-off those colours. The object was a large tortoise, which he gilded and crusted its shell with precious stones – next day the animal died. The novel creates a complex relationship between colour and artificiality. Same was investigated by Batchelor in his book “Chormophobia” (BATCHELOR, David, 2011, p. 57). Here we see examples of two literatures correlate in one similar discussion that takes colour to a whole new level.

Artists have investigated colour in many ways across disciplines and time re-introduced it in an all-new suit every time. Some of them invented techniques, used shapes and forms; others blended it in vibrant tones to invoke certain feelings. In filmmaking, colour was used to express fun, joy and hope, whereas, in literature, writers explored complex relationships between colour and other worldly material. The reason could be that colour carries more meanings than being just a tool for joy.

Bibliography

- ANFAM, David. 2001. Mark Rothko - the Works on Canvas. Washington: National Gallery of Art Washington.

- ART MOVEMENTS. 2016. Art Movements. [online]. [Accessed 26 December 2016]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.artmovements.co.uk/impressionism.htm/nggallery/page/2/thumbnails>

- BACHELOR, David. 2014. The Luminous and the Grey. Reaktion Books.

- BATCHELOR, David. 2011. Chromophobia. Reaktion Books, p.40.

- BHABHA, Homi K. 2011. Anish Kapoor. London: Brithish Council and Lisson Gallery.

- HUYSMAN, Joris-Karl. 1998. A Rebours - Against Nature. Paris: Oxford University Press.

- KAPOOR, Anish. 2015. Siena.

- Oz the Great and Powerful. Film. Directed by Sam RAIMI. Walt Disney Pictures. 2013.

- RADIOLAB. 2012. Colors. [online]. [Accessed 20 November 2016]. Available from World Wide Web: <https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/colors/id152249110?i=1000115755470&mt=2>

- RUBIN, Susan Goldman. 2010. Wideness & Wonder : The Life and Art of Georgia O'Keeffe. New York: Chronicle Books LLC.

- STEVENS, Mark, Lisa Mintz MESSINGER, Barbara NOVAK, and Barbara ROSE. 1997. The - Georgia O'Keefee Museum. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York.

- THE GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS PROGRAM. 2005. Seeing Rothko. Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute, Los Angekes, p.101.

- THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION. 1994. Rothko in New York. New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications.

- EXPRESSION, Abstract. 2016. Voice Recording. London: Royal Academy of Art. 23.