History of the Color Wheel
October 15, 2010 11:31 AM   Subscribe

The History of the Color Wheel l Using text from Sarah Lowengard's The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe we're taking a look at the progression of color organization systems and how the color wheel came to be. l The Wonderful Color Wheel l All about color.
posted by nickyskye (9 comments total) 32 users marked this as a favorite
 
I loved to chromatically rearrange my box of 64 crayolas when I was a kid.
posted by not_on_display at 11:49 AM on October 15, 2010 [2 favorites]


For some reason, the system I am on comes up in 256-color mode.
This is not the post to look at in 256 colors.
[changes to 32-bit color]
Much better.
posted by MtDewd at 12:02 PM on October 15, 2010


I am offically in love with the idea of Ignaz Schiffermüller, the Viennese butterfly expert who drew a double rainbow on his color chart.
posted by fermezporte at 12:15 PM on October 15, 2010


Favorited but also felt moved to say: Great post!
posted by marginaliana at 1:27 PM on October 15, 2010


Colours are so pretty.
posted by Abbril at 1:50 PM on October 15, 2010


Fun. The 18th century paint-chip charts remind me of being knee deep in an excavation trench trying to figure out the Munsell charts for the first time.

But the 'spectrum' part itself would be more interesting if it went pre-Newton; I have been interested but haven't found much on earlier color theory since encountering it in Pastoureau's 'Black' - he states the medieval color spectrum was more value based than hue based, leading to a color order putting red and green next to each other.
posted by cobaltnine at 1:59 PM on October 15, 2010


I want to officially change my name to Ignaz Schiffermüller.
posted by Mcable at 2:07 PM on October 15, 2010


...Pastoreau's 'Black'...

Wow, thanks for that citation, I am going to have to check that book out. In art school, I studied color theory intensely, but ironically, I ended up working in black pigments pretty much exclusively. So that is right up my alley.
posted by charlie don't surf at 12:24 PM on October 16, 2010


I just happened upon that blog post, and came here to post it. It's fabulous. And I'm colorblind!
posted by OmieWise at 11:25 AM on October 22, 2010


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