Reviews of Color Theory Resources

Abbott, Arthur G.  The Color of Life.  New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 
Inc., 1947.   Undergrad - 535.6 Ab2c, cop. 4

Notes that with general advances in science, "man has found color to be a 
valuable assistant in the performance of daily work."  Color is being 
employed as  a useful guide to information by scientists and investigators.  
As its qualities are better understood, color may help effect a change in the 
nature of humanity by diminishing mans most unnatural and unprofitable traits 
and increasing the better ones.  Chapters cover: colors by nature and by man 
and how they are produced (heavens, plants, animals, paints, dyes, 
fabrications), color in apparel, buildings, chromotherapy, and the use of 
colors in various fields.   An appendix listing color organizations and 
manufacturers including the source of these lists may or may not be useful 
(depending on how out-of-date it is).  Has a good bibliography with a variety 
of articles, books, and reports that cover the range of color use.   No 
diagrams or examples.  Only one graphic, the colorplate in the front of the 
book that has a truly bizarre arrangement of what appear to be magazine 
cut-outs arranged willy-nilly on an inappropriate background.


Birren, Faber.  Creative Color.  New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 
1961.   Urbana - 752 B

Faber Birren is one of the major authorities on Color Theory, producing many 
books and articles examining color from a variety of perspectives.  Almost any 
book on color includes at least one resource by Birren.   Creative Color has 
only a limited Bibliography but it's a wonderful book in that it uses plain, 
everyday language to describe color from an art perspective.  And it's 
illustrated with all sorts of wonderful 1950s graphics (boomerang shapes, 
African masks, guys in nightclubs playing clarinet).  Yeah.   Graphics  
throughout the book, with a predominantly b/w and red color scheme. 


Birren, Faber.  A Grammar of Color.  New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold 
Company, 1969.   Arch - 535.6 B53g, cop. 2

In this book, Birren explains the Munsell color system in everyday language.  
He draws attention to Munsell's view on ideal balance  and he explains the need 
for training and understanding of new forms of art that deal with optical and 
perceptual factors in color.  A very short Reference list, but lots of 
diagrams of color spheres and charts.


Bond, Fred.  Color ... How to See and Use It.  San Francisco: Camera Craft 
Publishing Company, 1954.   Arch - 535.6 B64c

Bond's purpose in this book is a primer for beginning color student, a 
reference work for procedures for the advanced colorist, and a helpful 
assistant for the art teacher.  He recognizes that color is a sensuous 
experience, but he believes that the majority need a more dependable basis 
for making effective use of color.  This book comes across as a textbook for 
a high school photography class.   The chapters cover: the color wheel and 
how to use it, principles of color composition, figures in outdoor settings, 
etc..  Lots of color (or perhaps even tinted b/w) photographs in bright, 
bright hues.   Color use in everyday settings (interiors, exteriors) make 
this book seem very down-home. No bibliography so it's not much use for 
further scholarship.


Evans, Ralph M.  An Introduction to Color.  New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 
1948.   Undergrad - 535.6 Ev16i, cop. 9

Evans was the Department Head of the Eastman Kodak Company when he wrote 
this book and it's therefore not surprising that the book contains lots of 
photographs and, like Bond's book, seems to appeal to the photography market.  
As a matter of fact, when I had these two books in hand I had a hard time 
telling the difference between the two.  They even had some of the same 
photos!   The real difference is that Bond's book  has more of a practical 
application focus while Evans' book is more of a college level textbook on 
color.  Evans notes that he wrote this book to fill in the gap between the 
treatment that color is given in the fields of physics, psychology, and 
physiology.  Each area is studied separately and then woven together.  His 
goal is that any reader could grasp the fundamentals and that no knowledge of 
mathematics beyond high school level is required.   Charts and diagrams and 
a few color photos illustrate the book.   A bibliography with a focus on the 
scientific aspects of Color Theory is useful for a beginning or advanced 
student of the field. 


Goethe.  Theory of Colours, trans. Charles Lock Eastlake.  London: Frank Cass 
and Company Limited, 1967. First published in German as Farbenlehre in 1810.  
First published in English in 1840.   Undergrad - 535.6 G55zEe 1967, cop. 4

Goethe wrote this book to challenge the Newtonian theory of color; the 
ascendancy of which, he claims, has "impeded a free inquiry of the phenomena 
of color."   In this book he also outlines the theory of colors and gives an 
historical account of early inquiries and investigators of color.  The chapter 
titles express the character of the book: Subjective Halos; Dazzling 
Colourless Objects; Effect of Colour with Reference to Moral Associations; 
Allegorical, Symbolical, Mystical Application of Colour, etc.   It contains no 
Bibliography, but has a large Notes section that has many references to 
classical writers and painters.  The book is organized by paragraphs, each 
having its own identification number.   Its a pleasure to read as it recounts 
all sorts of observations about color  "If the eye is pressed only in a slight 
degree from the inner corner, darker or lighter circles appear." (Goethe, p. 
42).  Its format and style is somewhat reminiscent of the Old Farmers Almanac.
A must for those interested in historical studies of color.


Hope, Augustine and Margaret Walch.  The Color Compendium.  New York: Van 
Nostrand Reinhold, 1990.   Home Ec - Ref.  Q701.85 H771c

The BEST reference in Color Theory.   Miles above the rest.   Hope and Walch 
wished to bridge "the scientific views of color and our everyday needs for 
beauty and harmony."  Their goal of presenting all information relevant to 
color study in an interdisciplinary way is met by in this collection of 
contributions from physicists, philosophers, color researchers and artists 
and compiled them in an encyclopedia format.  Old and new concepts of color 
science are examined and the book "charts the expansion of color usage in 
everyday life in the late twentieth century."   The book is organized in an 
A-Z fashion, with entries, graphics, and signed essays interwoven throughout.  
Essays examine:  color in architecture, the geography of color, communication 
and color, fashion and clothing color, sources of historic color, etc..   A 
very large and comprehensive Bibliography. 


Jones, Tom Douglas.  The Art of Light and Color.  New York: Van Nostrand 
Reinhold Company, 1972.   Arch - 535.6 J72a

Featuring the Mobile Color Expression, Lumia, Kinetic Light with Instructions 
for the Creation of Dramatic Color and Light Instruments.  Groovy, man.  This  
book is really "way out".  Inspired by the art and light impetus of the 60s 
discotheques, light shows, and electric circuses which created a "carnival of 
light, color and sound."  This book has the feel of a Time-Life series.   
Chapters discuss: the historical background of color; the Psychedelic Age; 
color and psychotherapy; and color, music and sound relationships.  Lots of 
cool graphics produced by the: Chromaton, the Celeston, the Colortron, and the 
Sculptachrome -- instruments created by the author to play with color, light, 
and music.   A list of sources for light equipment and a good general 
Bibliography are included.


Judd, Deane B.  Color in Business, Science, and Industry.  New York: John Wiley 
& Sons, Inc., 1952.   Arch - 535.6 J88c, cop. 2

This is a serious book .   It even feels heavy.  This author worked at the 
National Bureau of Standards for 20 years and during that time, came in 
contact with "hundreds of colorimetric sore spots."  As he puts it, victories 
(in terms of dollars and cents) "were won by applying the sciences of 
mathematics, physics, and psychology."  His goal is to present the new science 
of "visual psychophysics" in terms that are practical.   Chapters cover: tools 
and technics, systematic sampling of the color solid, uniform chromaticness 
scales, and my personal favorite, spectrophotometric data to tristimulus 
values.  No color pictures, lots of diagrams and a huge Bibliography.


Kelly, Kenneth L. and Deane B. Judd.  Color: Universal Language and Dictionary 
of Names.  U.S. Department of Commerce.  Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government 
Printing Office, December 1976.   Arch - Ref  535.6014 K29c

This is the one and only book that I found in the Art and Architecture 
librarys reference section so I thought I'd throw it into the Bibliography.   
The name pretty much says it all.   The book contains lots of tables with lots 
of color names.   Each name has a source designation (the Federal agency that 
uses that name) and a standardized color designation (the ISCC-NBS code -- 
Inter-Society Color Council-National Bureau of Standards).  Dry.  Very dry.  
But a huge Bibliography.


Kueppers, Harald.  The Basic Law of Color Theory, trans. Roger Marcinik.  New 
York: Barron’s. 1982.  First published in German as Das Grundgesetz Der 
Farbenlehre.  Cologne, West Germany: DuMont Buchverlag GmbH & Co., 1978.   
Arch - 535.6 K953g:E

This is the sort of book I expected to find in the Reference section of the 
Art and Architecture library.  Its look and feel is very much the usual sort 
for a graphic design reference text produced in the 80s.   The purpose of this 
book is to "present an understandable color theory based on scientifically 
supported facts."  Kuepper sees color not as a physical phenomenon, but as a 
physiological one.   Therefore he focuses on how the human visual system 
works, models for illustrating the law of vision, perception of color, and 
color mixing laws.  A shortish Bibliography with a graphic design focus, 
that's well worth the look because it's annotated.   Also includes a list of 
teaching aids and sources for supplies.     


Letouzey, Victor.  Colour and Colour Measurement: In the Graphic Industries, 
trans. V.G.W. Harrison.  London: Sir Isaac Pittman & Sons, Ltd., 1957.   Arch - 
535.6 L56cEh, cop. 2

Letouzey aimed this book towards the printing industry.  His goal is the help 
the industry understand that colors can be measured and that these 
measurements can be of enormous advantage to the craft.  I may be wrong, since 
I haven't read much yet about the history of color theory and printing, but it 
seems that this may have been the first book that introduced the system of cyan
, magenta, and yellow as the printing industry's primary colors.  The book has 
lots of charts showing transmission, reflexion, luminance, and wavelengths.  
Extremely dry reading for an artist, but no doubt useful for graphic artists 
whose work is often printed.  A very short Bibliography.


Luckiesh, M. The Language of Color.  New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 
1920.   Arch - 752 L96l

This book is rather similar to that Victorian book on the language of flowers.
More literature than technical guide or workbook.   A very small amount of 
information on color science and lots of information on: mythology, primitive 
language, ecclesiasticism, theatre, and poetry.   Even a very brief 
Bibliography.  A joy to read but not much good as a reference book.


Quiller, Stephen.  Color Choices.  New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 
1989.   Arch - Q.752 A41c, cop. 2

This is an artists workbook on color with page after page of examples for 
working in acrylic, oil, and watercolor media.  Techniques for mixing colors 
and creating working palettes and studies of the same work in different color 
schemes make this an extremely practical book for the art student.   Chapters 
on: various color schemes (triadic, split-complementary), working on location, 
master colorists, the color wheel.  A page on historical perspective in color 
theory nicely does a nice job of summing up the history of this field.  The 
Bibliography is decent.


Taylor, F.A. Colour Technology: For Artists, Craftsmen, and Industrial 
Designers.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1962.   Arch - 752 T23c

A nice little book.   Taylor's goal is to "introduce the subject of colour 
technology followed by some guidance on the application of colour theory to 
the visual arts, with special emphasis on the needs of the industrial artist 
and designer."  Chapters are on: chemical properties of colouring matters, 
physiological analysis of colour, psychological influences of colour, applying 
the principles of colour.  It's fairly scientific, but amazingly the language 
is such that it's quite readable to the lay person.  A large bibliography.


Wyszecki, Gunter and W.S. Stiles.  Color Science: Concepts and Methods, 
Qualitative Data and Formulas.  New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1967.   
Undergrad - 535

Wow.  This must be THE book on color science.   It's really a physics book 
and a very thorough one it is too.  It is directed to the colorimetrist, to 
those who are concerned with color problems in industry, and to the research 
worker in color.  The authors aim to assemble the quantitative tools for work 
on color with concepts in color matching; a logical presentation of the 
formulas used to develop those concepts; and an expression in tables of the 
quantitative properties of human vision.   Not surprisingly there are lots of 
tables and diagrams in this book and no color pictures.   The chapters cover: 
source of energy, colorimetry, color discrimination, and photometry.   As 
we've already seen with all these science types, there is a huge bibliography.