DOI Artikel:
A. Chameleon, Modern Chiaroscural Deficiencies and Their Influence on Pictorial Art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31040#0037
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The famous color-harmony of Italian painters, red, green, and violet,
which roused action successively in the whole field of vision without exhaust-
ing it, seemed meaningless. Strange, apparently discordant combinations of
green and blue, green and yellow, orange and red, which stimulate only cer-
tain portions of the retina at the expense of others, obtruded themselves upon
his optical consciousness. It became apparent that light does not empha-
size, but that it generalizes, and that colors and tones, although more varied,
are less decisive than in the paintings of the Old Masters. The charm of
pictorial illusion seemed to have shifted from the juxtaposition of contrast to
the more subtle though less powerful variety of half-tones. It is not so
much the richness and fullness of color the modern painter strives for, as
Raffaelli has pointed out, but the combination of colors which yield a sensa-
tion of light, which in a way is a reflection of our temporary light conditions.
That the impressionists banished black from their palette is significant itself.
Ever since the semi-darkness of the middle ages was dispelled, the mind
of painters had been occupied with the invention of a new method of paint-
ing. Chardin and Watteau, who crosshatched and stippled pure colors in
their pastels and water-colors, were really the forerunners of impressionism.
Delacroix was the first master-painter who scientifically concerned himself
with light and color notation, as Turner (via Ruskin) introduced the empha-
sis of the color of shadows at the expense of their tones. But not before
science came to the assistance of the painter, was he able to perfect his system
of open-air mosaics, of several color-planes set at different angles.
And it is Chevreul, Young, Helmholtz, and Ogden Rood, who, after
realizing the chiaroscural deficiencies of modern times and tracing them to their
causes, supplied the genius of Manet, Monet, and Degas with a new pictorial
revelation of light and color. The modern style of painting is a direct out-
come of the environment in which we live. With the decline of candlelight
parties the new era was ushered in, and the kerosene lamp was the last harm-
onizer of light and darkness. As it went slowly out of fashion, the reign of
half-and-quarter-tones, or in other words, the reign of light, set in.
A. Chameleon.
which roused action successively in the whole field of vision without exhaust-
ing it, seemed meaningless. Strange, apparently discordant combinations of
green and blue, green and yellow, orange and red, which stimulate only cer-
tain portions of the retina at the expense of others, obtruded themselves upon
his optical consciousness. It became apparent that light does not empha-
size, but that it generalizes, and that colors and tones, although more varied,
are less decisive than in the paintings of the Old Masters. The charm of
pictorial illusion seemed to have shifted from the juxtaposition of contrast to
the more subtle though less powerful variety of half-tones. It is not so
much the richness and fullness of color the modern painter strives for, as
Raffaelli has pointed out, but the combination of colors which yield a sensa-
tion of light, which in a way is a reflection of our temporary light conditions.
That the impressionists banished black from their palette is significant itself.
Ever since the semi-darkness of the middle ages was dispelled, the mind
of painters had been occupied with the invention of a new method of paint-
ing. Chardin and Watteau, who crosshatched and stippled pure colors in
their pastels and water-colors, were really the forerunners of impressionism.
Delacroix was the first master-painter who scientifically concerned himself
with light and color notation, as Turner (via Ruskin) introduced the empha-
sis of the color of shadows at the expense of their tones. But not before
science came to the assistance of the painter, was he able to perfect his system
of open-air mosaics, of several color-planes set at different angles.
And it is Chevreul, Young, Helmholtz, and Ogden Rood, who, after
realizing the chiaroscural deficiencies of modern times and tracing them to their
causes, supplied the genius of Manet, Monet, and Degas with a new pictorial
revelation of light and color. The modern style of painting is a direct out-
come of the environment in which we live. With the decline of candlelight
parties the new era was ushered in, and the kerosene lamp was the last harm-
onizer of light and darkness. As it went slowly out of fashion, the reign of
half-and-quarter-tones, or in other words, the reign of light, set in.
A. Chameleon.
