19th Century: Color Theories, Color Vision, & New Colors

Newton’s Color Wheel

suggests the proportions of the hues of visible light in the spectrum related to musical scales

Trichromatic Vision

humans, apes, new-world monkeys (early 19th century)

How does Trichromatic Vision work?

• cross section of the human eye and magnification of the retina wall showing nerves that capture light and send it to rods and cones for analysis

• have 3 cones, red, green, and blue, which allows for the visible spectrum

Tetrachromats

birds, insects, fish, and possibly few human females

• have 4 cones

Dichromats

most mammals, dogs, elephants

• have 2 cones

Mauveine

synthetic purple dye created in the 1850’s by chemist William Henery Perkin

Why was Mauveine dye revolutionary?

first aniline dye

• made with an extract of coal tar, a by-product of coal production

• launched a new range of bright synthetic color for textiles and paints

Michael Chevreul

• the juxtaposition of color affects perception, the simultaneous contrast

• was founded on the thing on the mixing and dying of thread

• when certain colors were placed together, it dulled or added contrast on the loom

CYMK vs RYB

CMYK

• cyan, magenta, yellow, black, used for computers

RYB

• red, yellow, blue, used for painting