International studio (52.1914)

Light in Art


cannot even paint what he wishes,
owing to a great initial handicap.
Imagine a scene in nature. The
brightest spot is perhaps five hundred
times brighter than the darkest area.
On a plain canvas the artist cannot
reproduce this range of contrast, be-
cause his whitest white is not more
than forty times brighter than his
darkest pigment. At once he is han-
dicapped and no kind of general light-
ing can reduce this handicap. A local
lighting unit, however, can be of great
assistance. By placing a local light-
ing unit in a proper position, so that
the lightest part of the painting will receive
much more light than the darkest, the range of
contrast found in nature can be more nearly pro-
duced. This is
illustrated in
Fig. 4. The
picture on the
right is lighted
from the upper
right hand cor-
ner, while the
other picture is
lighted from
the left side.
The pictures
are physically
the same, yet
fig. 5 much different
in expression.
The artist wished to produce the impression of a
bright sky; of a volume of light coming from the
upper left-hand region. This desire is fulfilled in
one case with the assistance of the local lighting
unit.
The mural painting often suffers from artificial
lighting when it could often be much benefited.
The artist of course has carefully considered its
environment, that is, the lighting, the colour of its
surroundings, and its position. This no doubt
was done in daylight, but the great difference
between natural lighting and artificial lighting in
general makes it a safe prediction that the arti-
ficial lighting is likely to be unsatisfactory. Here
is surely a place where the lighting specialist and
the artist must co-operate.
To return to the specific painting, it is of inter-
est to consider the effect of the quality or colour of
the light. The painting has perhaps been exe-
cuted in daylight. All know the great difference

fig. 3 fig. 3
existing between the colour values of illuminants.
The artist has no doubt carefully harmonized his
colour scheme both as to colours and values. Pig-
ments, however, owe their colour largely to the
light falling upon them, therefore change consid-
erably when lighted by artificial means depending
upon the illuminant. Not only do the colours
change in hue but relative values are very much
upset. Experiments also show that by varying
the quality or colour value of the light the painting
can be made to express many moods. The artist
attempts to express but one mood in a picture,
therefore he needs the co-operation of the lighting
artist, in order to properly illuminate the work by
artificial light. Red, green and blue lights, when
properly controlled by means of dimmers, will
produce many qualities of light, and an apparatus
of this character should prove of inestimable value
to the art student or artist. Fig. 5 shows the
effect of the colour of light on a painting. In the
one case all detail in the background had disap-
peared, while in the other case, it is shown in its
true colour and relative values.
This brief description has not been designed as
a complete
treatise. A vol-
ume could be
written from
the viewpoint
of the lighting
artist. How-
ever, it is hoped
that this brief
note has shown
that the artist
is much at the
mercy of those
who control
the lighting.



XLVII