ARTH 385 Colour: Theory and Application in the Visual Arts

• Fridays, 8:45am-11:15am
• EV-1.605
• Instructor: Dr. Adrian Gor

“Colour is a given of most people's everyday lives, but at the same time it lies at the limits of language and understanding.” David Bachelor

This course reveals how past and present concepts of colour theory and their use in a wide range of art practices shape contemporary visual culture by placing emphasis on the transformative power of light. In order to see how color theory is used today in art, philosophy, and new media, it is vital to understand how underlying concepts apply to both traditional and digital materials and methods of working with colour. Therefore, the history of colors will start from the first prehistoric hues to the swatch colour panel and introduce fundamental elements as the electromagnetic spectrum, pigment properties, colour mixing, colour perception, colour psychology, and colour harmonies.  Based on visual experiments and techniques of colour organization and mixing, we will explore major theories of colorists as Aristotle, da Vinci, Newton, Goethe, Chevreul, Runge, Itten, the Bauhaus, Kandinsky, Albers, Munsell and Bachelor and review the central role of colour in art movements as Impressionism, Pointillism, Fauvism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, and Op Art. While reviewing aesthetic philosophies of artists and architects that marked the development of Western art history, this course also delves into the practical nature and application of colours in the visual arts. Next to written assignments, you will paint colour exercises using the teachings of historically prominent colour theorists like Da Vinci, Goëthe, Chevreul, and Runge.