Local Color's Colors: Perception, Impressionism, and Veritism in American Literature

Historical Evolution of Local Color in Painting and Literature

• Original Artistic Definition:

  • First introduced by French art critic Roger de Piles in The Principles of Painting ($1708$; translated into English in $1743$), "local colors" (frequently used in the plural) referred to the technical arrangements of pigments on a canvas needed to generate a convincing illusion of real-world objects.

  • Local colors designated a technique for adjusting pigments relative to perception rather than physical locations. For example, painting a red poppy required altering the initial shade of red in relation to the green stalk, the black stamens, and the surrounding light quality.

  • De Piles sought to validate the painterly practices of tinting and toning against early-modern artistic theories that subordinated color to line, outline, and drawing (which were deemed more rational and masculine).

  • De Piles defined local color as that which, by agreement with its place on the canvas and with the aid of neighboring colors, represents a single, distinct object (such as a carnation, linen, or fabric).

• Literary Reconceptualization in the Late Nineteenth Century:

  • By the $1880\text{s}$, American writers such as Sarah Orne Jewett, Mary Murfree, and Hamlin Garland re-purposed "local color" to denote a narrative genre focused on regional customs, dialects, and rural folkways.

  • The locus shifted from the internal pictorial space of a painting to actual geographical regions, shifting the primary venue of encounter from art galleries to literary magazines.

  • As the term transitioned from a visual technique to a literary metaphor, its connection to actual visual hues was largely forgotten by critics.

• The Structural Distance Between Observer and Observed:

  • In traditional literary criticism, the defining structural feature of local color fiction is assumed to be the gap or distance between the observing author/narrator and the observed local subjects.

  • Critical interpretations historically viewed local colorists as detached figures—either as wide-eyed tourists or as elevated artists. Critics debated whether this distance served capitalist expansion and national unification or provided a platform for subversive portrayals by female and minority writers.

• Philosophical and Epistemological Controversies Over Color:

  • John Locke's Empiricism: Categorized colors as secondary qualities that do not exist within actual physical objects, meaning painted hues could entertain the eye but could not convey objective Truth.

  • Goethe's Dynamic Relationality: In Theory of Colours ($1810$), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe argued that color embodies the relational interplay between subject and object that drives the universe, making expert coloring a demonstration of nature's essential dynamics.

  • Nineteenth-Century Scientific Consensus: Studies in science and art increasingly adopted the Goethean model, treating color perception as an inherently relational process that reveals how human cognition interacts with and realizes the physical world.

  • Aesthetic Impact: The rejection of static primary qualities led artists away from eighteenth-century classicism's subdued tones toward the vivid hues of J. M. W. Turner and the pure, unmixed colors of Impressionism.

The Shift in Visual Perception: Picturesque Aesthetics to Impressionism

• The Aesthetics of the Picturesque:

  • Coined by William Gilpin, the "picturesque" distinguished beautiful scenes (which please the eye in their natural state) from picturesque scenes (which please due to qualities capable of being illustrated in painting).

  • The picturesque relied on viewing nature through the prism of established artistic conventions, maintaining a strict boundary between nature and artifice.

• Optical Prosthetics of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries:

  • The Claude Mirror:

    • A black, slightly convex mirror used by tourists and artists in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (such as travelers to the Lake District) to aestheticize landscapes.

    • Users turned their backs to the actual scene to view its reflection in the mirror. The convexity condensed wide vistas into a single compositional frame, while the dark tint softened vivid natural hues into a unified, subdued palette inspired by painter Claude Lorrain.

    • The mirror presupposed a passive observer completely detached from the environment, whose perceptual mechanisms played no role in constructing the visual image.

*   **Claude Glasses**:
    *   Sets of variously hued monocles (including blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and dark brown) mounted in horn frames that pivoted on a single center.
    *   Spectators looked through these tinted lenses to cast specific tonal overlays across landscapes, imitating the styles of painters like Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, or Thomas Gray.
    *   Satirized in James Plumptre's comic opera *The Lakers* ($1798$) through the character Miss Veronica Beccabunga, who swaps glasses to view scenes as "gorgeously glowing," "gloomily glaring," or "frigidly frozen."

• The Empirical Ideal and the "Innocence of the Eye":

  • In The Elements of Drawing ($1857$), John Ruskin condemned the black convex mirror as a pestilent invention that falsified nature and degraded art.

  • Ruskin defended J. M. W. Turner's intense colors by prioritizing fidelity to observable empirical facts over adherence to traditional artistic stylization.

  • Ruskin formulated the concept of the

Historical Evolution of Local Color in Painting and Literature

Original Artistic Definition

The concept of "local colors" was first introduced in art theory by French art critic Roger de Piles in The Principles of Painting ($1708$, translated into English in $1743$). In its original plural form, "local colors" referred to the technical arrangements and adjustments of pigments on canvas necessary to generate a convincing visual illusion of real-world objects relative to perception rather than physical locations. For example, painting a red poppy required altering the initial shade of red in relation to the green stalk, the black stamens, and the surrounding light quality. De Piles sought to validate painterly practices of tinting and toning against early-modern artistic theories that subordinated color to line, outline, and drawing, which were traditionally deemed more rational and masculine. Ultimately, de Piles defined local color as that which represents a single, distinct object—such as a carnation, linen, or fabric—by agreement with its place on the canvas and with the aid of neighboring colors.

Literary Reconceptualization in the Late Nineteenth Century

By the $1880\text{s}$, American writers such as Sarah Orne Jewett, Mary Murfree, and Hamlin Garland repurposed "local color" to denote a literary narrative genre focused on regional customs, dialects, and rural folkways. The locus shifted from the internal pictorial space of a painting to actual geographical regions, moving the primary venue of encounter from art galleries to literary magazines. As the term transitioned from a visual technique into a literary metaphor, its original connection to physical visual hues was largely forgotten by critics.

The Structural Distance Between Observer and Observed

In traditional literary criticism, the defining structural feature of local color fiction is assumed to be the gap or distance between the observing author or narrator and the observed local subjects. Critical interpretations historically viewed local colorists as detached figures, acting either as wide-eyed tourists or as elevated artists. Critics debated whether this distance served capitalist expansion and national unification or provided a platform for subversive portrayals by female and minority writers.

Philosophical and Epistemological Controversies Over Color

Philosophical debates over color heavily shaped its aesthetic usage. John Locke's empiricism categorized colors as secondary qualities that do not exist within actual physical objects, meaning painted hues could entertain the eye but could not convey objective Truth. Conversely, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe argued in Theory of Colours ($1810$) that color embodies the dynamic, relational interplay between subject and object that drives the universe, making expert coloring a demonstration of nature's essential dynamics. Over the course of the nineteenth century, scientific consensus increasingly adopted the Goethean model, treating color perception as an inherently relational process that reveals how human cognition interacts with and realizes the physical world. This rejection of static primary qualities led artists away from eighteenth-century classicism's subdued tones toward the vivid hues of J. M. W. Turner and the pure, unmixed colors of Impressionism.

The Shift in Visual Perception: Picturesque Aesthetics to Impressionism

The Aesthetics of the Picturesque

Coined by William Gilpin, the aesthetics of the "picturesque" distinguished beautiful scenes, which please the eye in their natural state, from picturesque scenes, which please specifically due to qualities capable of being illustrated in painting. The picturesque relied on viewing nature through the prism of established artistic conventions, maintaining a strict boundary between nature and artifice.

Optical Prosthetics of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

To aestheticize landscapes, tourists and artists used optical devices such as the Claude mirror and Claude glasses. The Claude mirror was a black, slightly convex mirror used in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by travelers, such as those visiting the Lake District. Users turned their backs to the actual landscape to view its reflection in the mirror, whose convexity condensed wide vistas into a single compositional frame, while its dark tint softened vivid natural hues into a unified, subdued palette inspired by painter Claude Lorrain. This mirror presupposed a passive observer completely detached from the environment, whose perceptual mechanisms played no role in constructing the visual image. Similarly, Claude glasses consisted of sets of variously hued monocles—including blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and dark brown—mounted in pivoting horn frames. Spectators looked through these tinted lenses to cast specific tonal overlays across landscapes, imitating the styles of painters like Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, or Thomas Gray. These devices were satirized in James Plumptre's comic opera The Lakers ($1798$) through the character Miss Veronica Beccabunga, who swaps glasses to view scenes as "gorgeously glowing," "gloomily glaring," or "frigidly frozen."

The Empirical Ideal and the "Innocence of the Eye"

In The Elements of Drawing ($1857$), John Ruskin condemned the black convex mirror as a pestilent invention that falsified nature and degraded art. Ruskin defended J. M. W. Turner's intense colors by prioritizing fidelity to observable empirical facts over adherence to traditional artistic stylization, formulating the concept of the "innocence of the eye" to champion a direct, childlike perception of color.