4

Lovibond 1915 Wilson 1905 Lacouture 1890 Babbitt 1878 Runge 1810

Grassmann 1853 Field 1877 Rood 1879 Itten 1944 Forsius 1611

Gregoire 1820 Newton 1704 Bourges 1918 Birren 1934 Hering 1878

Munsell 1905 NCS-SYSTEM 1979 Bezold 1874 Irozu-Mondou 1876 Kupka 1910
 Color Circles 5

Runge 1810 Jacobs 1923 Raskin 1825 Bacon 1866 Hayter 1830

Color Circles
Kunihiko Sugiyama

Who invented color circles ?

Chevreul 1861 Wundt 1874 Ostwald 1917 Color circles are diagrams that graphically express
the concept of color.
Various styles have been used since ancient times,
but circular and spherical diagrams are the most common.
The first step is to consider the simple question:
Why is color expressed using geometric conceptual schemes
such as circular diagrams?
When arranged side by side, we see 3,000 years of
color culture history.

Hbl 1904 DWH Co., LTD.

Author unknown 1708

Goethe 1810 Ziegler 1850 Bezold 1876 Herschel 1817 Itten 1944
 6

introduction The origins of

avoid being scooped, resulting in
Wallace sometimes being referred
sense of color in ancient times:
The colour of grass and foliage

Looking at the large number of color

the sense of color to as the man eclipsed by Darwin.
One of his works, Tropical Nature,
is never alluded to as a beauty in the
Vedas or the Zendavesta, though these
system charts published in books The beginnings with eight colors and Other Essays (1878) , includes productions are continually extolled
on chromatics makes one wonder some interesting observations on for other properties. Blue is described
why so many are circular, and which How did people in ancient the origins of the sense of color as by terms denoting sometimes green,
individual might have devised the times conceive color? This is a a naturalist and biologist. While sometimes black, showing that it
first color circles. question that has fascinated me for the passage is quite long, it is worth was hardily recognized as a distinct
a long time. The article The people quoting here. colour. The colour of the sky is never
This topic is touched on in the 2004 that deciphered the rainbow in the It is quite possible that at first, mentioned in the Bible, the Vedas,
Japanese language edition of this previous issue of this handbook was green and blue were the only kinds the Homeric poems, or even in the
publication. related to this fascination of mine. A of light-vibrations which could be Koran. The first distinct allusion to
look at the book entitled ClassiColor: perceived at all. When the need it known to Geiger is in an Arabic
This time, we will use the results of
Farven I Antik Skulptur allows one to for differentiation of colour arose, work of the ninth century. Aristotle
that analysis to study the key color
see how ancient artists and craftsmen rays of greater and of smaller names three colours in the rainbow
circles in chronological order.
used the color palette. wave -lengths would necessarily red, yellow and green. Two centuries
According to American color be made use of to excite the new earlier Xenophanes had described
researcher Faber Birren (1900-1988), the sensations required; and we can the rainbow as purple, reddish, and
palettes used by artists in the 4,000 thus understand why green and yellow. The Pythagoreans admitted
FIRE years from ancient times up until the blue form the central portion of four primary colourswhite, black,
Aristotle Renaissance consisted of only eight the visible spectrum, and are the red, and yellow; the Chinese the
B.C.384322,
primary colors. Of course, far more colours which are most agreeable to same, with the addition of green.
T

Greece
O

RY
H

colors are seen in the natural world, us in large surfaces; while at its two These suggest that a wide range
EARTH

and this does not mean that ancient extremities we find yellow, red and of colors was in used in ancient
AIR

people were not able to see a wide violet-colours we best appreciate in t i m e s , b u t b a re ly d e sc r ib e d in

range of colors. But it is believed smaller masses, and when contrasted writing. While there may have been
LD
W

Fig. 1: Diagram of a
O
ET

four-element, four- that there was no need to distinguish with the other two, or with natural fewer names for the modern-day
property diagram tints. We have here probably the primary colors, historical works such
WATER between the wide range of colors
that spread from
Greece to Arabia. The as today, and only a few colors had foundations of a natural theory as On Colors by Aristotle and The
elementary colors are of harmonious colouring, derived Treatise on Color by Goethe indicate
significant meaning. We see similar
red, blue, yellow, and
green. observations in the work of French from the order in which our colour- that many color names were in use
color researcher Michel Pastoureau. sensations have arisen and the for flora and fauna.
British naturalist and geographer nature of the emotions with which
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) the several tints have been always
conceived the theory of evolution associated.
before Charles Darwin, and wrote And also quoting from Zur
his ideas in a letter to Darwin. This Entwickelungs-geschichte der
prompted Darwin to rush his theory Menschheit (1871) by Lazarus Geiger
Fig. 2: Eight-color ink well, from Color & Human
Response by Faber Birren published in 1978. of evolution into publication to regarding the development of a
 Color Circles 7

Research into different colors (white, yellow, purple, included numerous contradictions. Mixture of light and
color starting with green, blue, gray, and black),just as there Aristotles color theories were darkness theory
are seven different types of flavor, refined and reassessed by the 11th
Aristotle Aristotles explanations of color included
with other colors being mixtures century Arabian scientist Alhazen,
the explanation that the myriad of colors
The first recorded in-depth studies of these seven. This concept was forming the basis of research on consisted of a mixture of light and darkness.
into color in human history were known as the mixture of light and the structure of the eye and visual In his work Meteorology, Aristotle explains
made by Aristotle and his students darkness theory. Elsewhere Aristotle perception theories resembling that lines of sight became weaker when
(s u c h a s T h e o p h r a s t u s) . A r i s t o t l e s reflected, with dark objects becoming darker,
writes that gray is an intermediate those used to this day. These are
and, white objects becoming blacker. He also
theories on color and the visual color between black and white, and covered the Book of Optics. Little described how the color (white) of lines of sight
sense continued to influence studies while arranging the white-gray- remains from the Middle Ages, became redder when stronger, greener when
of color into the 19th century. It black axis vertically would form a but in the 14th century, Aristotles slightly weaker, and bluer when increasingly
weaker. While color is widely discussed
is wor thwhile to examine them color solid, the explanation was not visual perception theories were
in many of Aristotles works, these are not
in detail before discussing color developed quite that far. expanded in Opus Majus by Roger scientific theories, and minor disparities are
circles. A ristot les color t heories a re Bacon, and perspectivists such as noticeable even within his works. The quote
Aristotles studies of light and written mainly in On the Soul. Let us Nicole Oresme. above highlighted in blue can therefore be
described as a common concept with the
color are discussed in his works now move on to see how Aristotles Optics is the study of light, and
mixture of light and darkness theory. So how
D e A n i m a (O n t he S o u l), S e n s e color t heories sub -sequent ly the foundations of color research then does the mixture of light and darkness
a n d S e n s i b il i a , O n C o l o r s, a n d developed in the world. that subsequently took off from theory differ from the transformation theory
Meteorology. According to Aristotle, The theory of visual perception the 16th to 18th centuries with which states that white light is pure light
and all colors such as red, blue, and yellow
color is somet hing visible in originating in Ancient Greece is the completion of principles of
transform according to the degree of darkness
light, and color is not normally an essential part of the explanation realistic painting were derived from intermixe d? T he trans format ion the or y
v i sible i f l ig ht i s n o t p r e s e nt . of color. Plato used the concept of studies dating from the 11th to 14th applies not just to color, so problems arise when
L i g ht p r op a g a t e s t h r o u g h t h e line of sight to explain how we centuries. we try to collate it directly with the mixture of light
and darkness theory. The definition can probably
medium of air, an idea related to see shapes and colors. Aristotle,
be virtually matched bylimiting it to color
the Aristotlean theor y of visual however, postulated a reverse theory transformation theory.
senses. The explanation of where in which objects and colors are seen
color comes from is a speculative because the form of a color image
explanation, and is esoteric enough (color species) like a cicadas abandoned
to make even scholars give up in husk enters the eye from the object
despair. re duc e d to a v isua l p erc ept ion
To summarize, color is explained pyramid shape with the eye at its
a s e x i s t i n g on t h e b o u n d a r ie s apex. Common concepts in ancient
(surfaces) of objects. The question of color theories included ones in
how many colors exist is discussed which light was a transparent color,
Fig. 4: ClassiColor Farven I Antic
in On Colors, in which Aristotle says and that what we see are shapes Skulptur. Indicates that ancient
that colors range bet ween black with color. But these explanations buildings and sculptures were colored.
This catalog contains significant
and white, and that there are seven evidence to support this.

Fig. 3: Aristotles seven

White Yellow Red Purple Green Blue Black basic colors. Gray is
subsumed under black.
8

matching in areas such as the textile eggs laid inside the seven colors
The first color circle
Who invented industry. of the regions of the earth. The
seven colors on Fludds color ring
the color circle? Here we will consider which
individual first invented what we Monochord diagram were red, orange, yellow, white,
The idea of arranging colors today refer to as color circles and hue black, blue, and green (Fig. 7), clearly
in a circle circles. T he A ncient Gre ek mat he - ref lect ing gnosis, ba sed on t he
It is difficult to ascertain matician Pythagoras devised the four main elements of Aristotle.
whether early color circles applied harmonics of sound. The harmonic Black and white represented both
to artists paint colors or to light, relationship of the seven tones of the extremes of darkness and light,
and this ambiguity persisted even do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti chromatic while red lay between. Orange and
after Newton had explained the scale was expressed until the Middle yellow were arranged between red
characteristics of light. Here we will Ages using a variety of different and white, and green and blue were
look at and compare a wide range diag ra ms. T his wa s refer red to arranged between red and black.
of color concept diagrams and items as the monochord theor y in the Fludd also worked on measuring
Aguilonius used in design teaching, including Middle Ages, and the color diagrams the color of urine and invented a
15671617, circular and spherical systems, not conceived by Aguilonius, Glisson, urine measuring device. He believed
Belgium that color was not simply symbolic,
limited to what are referred to as and Kircher, were clearly monochord
color systems in chromatics. (Note 1) style diagrams from classical but an important diagnostic tool in
From ancient times up until music adapted for use with color. medicine.
the Middle Ages, circular diagrams These diagrams had black and white

Robert Fludd
were produced in great quantities, arranged at the ends, with other The oldest color circle
15741637,
including those for horoscopes and colors arranged in between, clearly printed in color
United Kingdom wind rose diagrams (Fig. 5), and for derived from Aristotles color theory.
Fig. 5: The upper annular diagrams for calendars. So it Looking at these diagrams, it does The color circle by an unknown
wind rose was taken is likely that colored versions of these not appear that Aristotles color author and printed in the Nether-
from Aristotles
Meteorology printed in tools formed the basis for the idea theory targeted a color circle or color lands is an illustration related to
1519. The lower wind of color circles. Early color circles solid. pastel tones. It was printed after
rose is from Cardanos
Opera Omnia (1663). can also be seen in works related to Newtons Opticks was published in
Francis Glisson
1597?1677, The origins of color alchemy, which had continued to Color circles in 1704, and the 7-segment diagram
circles lie in wheels
United Kingdom attract attention since ancient times. shown on the left-hand side in Fig. 10
such as wind roses. medicine
Also, early medicine was based on appears to have been influenced by
Note 1: Monochord
means single in diagnosing the color of bile and Rober t Fludd wa s a Brit ish this.
Greek, and more urine, which required foundations physician, a member of the
specifically refers to
a string instrument for the order in which to arrange secretive Rosicrucian society, and a
Athanasius Kircher with a single string colors, such as urine color circles. proponent of Hermes Trismegistus.
16011680, in accordance with
canonic stipulations. It was not until the 18th century His work Medicina Cathorca (Frankfurt,
Germany
The ratio of the string that color circles became widespread. 1629) includes a color ring diagram
can be varied by
moving the bridge Color circles in this period began to (Fig. 7). The 2nd century thinker and
along the string. develop from the ancient concept proponent of gnostic Basilidas of
diagrams into practical tools for Alexandria is said to have compared
use in color assortment and color the seeds of the world to peacock
 Color Circles 9

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 1

Fig. 6: Aguilonius considered the

relationship with Pythagorean rhythm
while adhering to Aristotles theories. Fig. 8: Color of urine: John of Cuba, Hortus
Phase transforming this diagram Sanitatis 15th century urine color charts used by
suggests the color solid shown to the physicians in the Middle Ages to diagnose the
right. Fig. 7: Fludd expressed the color
color of urine expressed the sequence of colors
perception of alchemy in his circular
from yellow to red as variations from white to
Color wheel diagram (1629).
black.

Fig. 11: Color circles published by

the printer Vandore in The Hague,
in the Netherlands in 1708 (author
unknown) with seven and twelve
colors. These color circles are said
Fig. 9: Color scale devised by Glisson (1597? 1677, Britain), a
to be the oldest color circles printed
physicist at Cambridge and royal advisor. Blue, red, and yellow
in color. From the initials C.B, it is
were located between black and white at the ends, with the
conjectured that the author may have
horizontal line forming a grayscale (1650).
been Clause Boutet.

Fig. 10: Graphic representation of

Aristotles theories produced by the
learned visionary scientist Kircher.
He explained the Aristotlean variety
of colors in chapter 2 of Ars Magna
Lucis et Umbrae by modifying
Aguiloniuss diagram.
10

Robert Grossetestes colors. This is how seven colors in consist of just four primary colors.
Color Solid Idea understanding of total are created from white. (On the These give birth to other kinds of
How did Color Circles become light and color Rainbow, collection of Christian mystic works) colors. Red is the color of fire, light
color spheres? This description clearly brings blue is the color of the atmosphere,
Robert Grosseteste was the first t o m i nd t h e a rra nge m e nt o f a water is green, and earth is brown
chancellor of Oxford University color solid. The choice of seven (yellow) and gray. Other colors such
and the author of the treatise On the colors (the actual colors are not indicated) is as jasper and sulfur are mixtures of
Rainbow around 1230, describing based on Aristotles provisions, and these colors. These four colors are
Robert Grosseteste
c.11681253, his unique understanding of probably led to the seven colors of thus parent colors, and combining
England color gained from translations of the spectrum specified by Newton. them with darkness (black) and light
Aristotles works. There are seven I would envisage the amount of (white) creates their color variations
colors close to white, no more and light, the brightness of light, and the of their own This description
no fewer. These colors are created pureness of the transparent body brings to mind a double-cone color
through transformations further as corresponding to hue, intensity, solid, and also a three-dimensional
Leon Battista Alberti away from white. Similarly, there and saturation, but perhaps this is an four-element, four-property diagram.
14041472, are seven colors close to black, and excessive leap of imagination. (See Fig. 14 and 15)
Italy
these rise from black to white until
they meet with the colors descending Leonardo da Vincis Mathematician
from white. White has three primary colors Forsiuss color sphere
properties: the amount of light, the idea was the first
brightness of light, and the pureness The leading Renaissance painter diagram
Leonardo da Vinci of the transparent body. One of the Leonardo da Vinci did not write
14521519,
Italy three will attenuate if two remain much about chromatics, but he Early in the 20th century, detailed
unchanged, creating three different does mention color briefly in his A sketches of a color sphere were
Treatise on Painting. According to da discovered in a notebook belonging
Vinci, there are six primary colors: to the Swedish mathematician Aron
white (light, sun), yellow (earth), green Sigfrid Forsius. That notebook was
(water), blue (air), red (fire), and darkness written in 1611, which indicates
Aron Sigfrid Forsius
?1637, (black). These six primary colors can an advanced level of completion
Sweden be described as predecessors of the for the early concept of the color
six fundamental colors of the NCS sphere. (The sketch itself was not colored,
(Natural Color System) color order system h o w e v e r. ) Wh e r e a s t h e i d e a s o f
used in the 20th century. Grosseteste and Alberti are purely
conjectural, Forsiuss idea clearly
Albertis color solid envisaged an overall arrangement of
color perceivable by humans. This
One of the leading Renaissance can therefore, without doubt, be
architects, Leon Battista Alberti, described as the worlds oldest color
wrote very briefly on topics related sphere (color solid).
Fig. 12: A diagram illustrating the sketches to color in the first part of his work
drawn by Leonardo da Vinci. On Pictures (1436). The true colors
 Color Circles 11

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 2

Wh Wh

B B
G

R G

R Y Y

Fig. 16: Colors as envisaged by

Forsius with four primary colors
of red, yellow, green, and blue
Blk Blk arranged on the equator line, and
White
with a grayscale line as the vertical
center axis from white (heaven) to
Wh Wh Fig. 14: (Avove) Expressing Leon Battista Albertis Life colour tree and wheat colour chalk grey pale blue black (earth).
relationship between the four primary colors of red,
blue, green, and yellow with black, gray, and white Pale red pale yellow apple mould verdigris sky blue
enables it to be three-dimensionally visualized in
an arrangement as shown in the two figures above.
Red yellow grey green blue

Purple flame yellow mouse grey grass green dark blue

Violet black brown black grey black green indigo



Black

Fig. 17: English nomenclature for Fig. 16.

WHITE
PAL

ASK
EY
YE

Y
RE
L

ELL
LO

G
W
OR
Fig. 18: Forsius color

OW
AN
GE LUE
Blk Blk YB
SK circle viewed on the
RED BLUE equator.
PAL
EG
R PLE REE
Fig. 19: English
Fig. 13: Robert Grossetestes relationship

N
(Above) PU N

BLA
OW
between the seven colors and black and white. Fig. 15: (Left) It can also be visualized as the nomenclature for Fig. 18.
N

CK

G
-BR
W

RE
color solid shown below if treated as a sphere
O

(Above) An illustration showing this idea as a

-GR

EN
BR

LET

instead of a double cone. BLACK

double cone.

EEN
VIO
12

Was Newtons color wavelength positions.) It may be that Two color circles by
Birth of the circle a chromaticity Newton did not color his color circle entomologist Moses
diagram? because it represented the colors of
color circle light and not pigments.
Harris
Differences between light and Some 50 years after Forsiuss color Perhaps Newtons color circle Some color circles are noted
paint clarified by explanation of solid idea, Cambridge University is frequently discussed due to the for their beauty. These include the
professor Isaac Newton conducted various techniques hidden within it. two color circles that form part of
light
experiments exploring sunlight. He One was the way in which Newton the work Natural System of Colours
Newton used the word spectrum, meaning included his famous color circle in fitted his own color circle to the published in 1766 by British ento-
apparition, in Latin, to describe the color band
his work Opticks, published in 1704. seven tones of the musical scale. This mologist and engraver Moses Harris.
produced by triangular prisms.
Newton described his color circle as is firmly believed to be influenced by This is a precious work in the field
Newton discovered that the seven colors contained
in white light rays were diffracted differently to
transforming from the seven colors the illustration included by Descartes of chromatics, with only four copies
create the rainbow phenomenon. arranged around the circumference in his work Compendium Musicae. known to exist. Schiffermller,
towards white in the center, with the When overlaid, the center angles for discussed in the next section, was
Isaac Newton intermediate colors determined by each color match almost perfectly. also an entomologist.
16421726, their specific positions. The small Another point is that Newton Harris created two color circles
England circle indicated a centroid of the arc describes the center of the color entitled Prismatic (prismatic color
divided into seven. c i rc l e a s w h i t e , s o o ne s h o u l d circle with three primary colors red, yellow, and
The seven colors of light (red, orange, visualize the seven spectral colors blue) and Compound (compound color
yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet) are arranged around the circumference circle with three primary colors orange, green,
arranged around the circumference, transforming toward the center. and purple) (see Fig. 24) .
The prismatic
Moses Harris but all the colors of the spectrum are Moreover, when Newton writes that color circle on the bottom left is
17311785,
England actually considered to be arranged the color of a specific point within formed of 18 colors mixed from the
around the circumference. (However, the circle can be determined using three primary colors red, yellow,
since this is a schematic diagram, these colors the center of gravity rule, it becomes and blue. Despite using the term
do not coincide with the actual spectrum possible to envisage this diagram as a prismatic, Harris made the error of
circular chromaticity diagram. using the subtractive color mixtures
The center of gravity rule is red, yellow, and blue as the prismatic
relatively easy to understand and primary colors.
can be considered an excellent way Harriss fort was engraving, and
of describing unspecified colors he uses the density of black lines to
without using the concept of vectors. represent the 20 intensity gradations
In his book The Artful Universe, for each color toward the center of
physicist John D. Barrow includes the circle. The colors were added
a spherical interpretation as shown using watercolor, an impressive
on the bottom left. No one else has achievement in an age before dot
Fig. 20 : If inverted from left to right, this
made such a bold interpretation. color printing. It is no exaggeration
illustration entitled Shadows and reflection in to call these color circles, alongside
Linear Perspective (1715) by Brook Taylor (1685
1731) virtually coincides with Newtons color circle.
those of Chevreul, the most beautiful
The two lines appear to verify Newtons center of Fig. 21: Musical scale diagram included in known to exist.
gravity laws. Descartes Compendium Musicae.
 Color Circles 13

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 3

Fig. 22: Newton used this diagram to illustrate

how the colors of the spectrum produced
Light white when mixed, but he also considered the
G correspondence between the seven colors and the
seven musical tones.
Y Fig. 23: Illustration from The Artful Universe (1995)
or
Blue by John D. Barrow.
le
Purp Fig. 24: (Three diagrams on right) Harris was a skilled
engraver, increasing the number of engraved
R black lines to adjust the intensity, with three lines
for level 4 and 12 for the innermost level 20. He
illustrated a total of 660 colors (360 for the prism
Dark color circle and 300 for the compound color circle).
 14

Color circle devised yellow (light) and blue (dark) under and color sphere diagram (Fig. 29) in
Mystic color by an entomologist the concept of Stegerung (elevation), his work Farbenkugel in 1810 before
developing this into a theory of dying in the same year at the early
circles Austrian entomologist Ignaz color harmony (Fig. 27) . Go ethe age of 33. Runges color sphere was
From late 18th to 19th century Schiffermller published a beautiful produced two different color circles: clearly modeled on the Earth. A
illustration containing the color one a six-color circle (Fig. 26) without color circle for pure colors lay at the
circle shown to the left in his 1772 Newtons somewhat forced addition Equator, with black placed at the
work Versuch eines Farbensystems. of indigo. This six-color circle is South Pole and white at the North
An unusual feature of this color a color circle made up of three Pole and the axis connecting the two
circle was the use of continuous pairs of complementary colors (red- poles forming a grayscale. All mixed
gradations. The color circle green, purple-yellow, blue-orange) based on colors are thus present within the
consisted of a total of twelve colors, residual image colors. Produced with sphere.
including the four primary colors assistance from Friedrich Schiller, the Issues with the structure
of red, blue, green, and yellow, and other color circle (Fig. 28) consisted o f Ru n g es c o l o r s p h e r e w e r e
eight other secondary colors, and of crimson, orange, yellow, green, highlighted a centur y later by
the twelve colors were given unique blue, and purple arranged around Professor Ostwald (Wilhelm Ostwald) .
names. The center of the circle the circumference, with black at the He understood that adding white or
contained the sunthe source of all center. The outermost ring is divided black to the colors on the equator
color. The four illustrations with into choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, of the sphere, shifting them toward
a rainbow theme clearly show a and melancholic, with these the two poles, reduced the number
mixture of pigment and light colors. temperaments each further divided of mutually differentiated colors,
Fig. 25: Ignaz Schiffermller into three. and that having gradations along the
(1727- 1806, Austria)
Goethes color circle epitomizes surface of the sphere was an error. He
Goethes color circle
his color theories, and the theories proposed that they should instead
The literary figure Go ethe were positively inherited alongside vary linearly. Nevertheless, this color
began studying chromatics in his with those of Itten and Klee of sphere was praised by Johannes Itten
40s, devoting two-thirds of his life Bauhaus, as well as Runge, and and Paul Klee of Bauhaus in the 20th
to the study of chromatics. His incorporated in design teaching. century, with Runges ideas being
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
17491832, three-part work, Zur Farbenlehre Readers interested in learning more incorporated into standard teachings
Germany (Theory of Colors) , was published in are encouraged to read Goethes on color.
1810, by coincidence the year in greatest work, Theor y of Colors, Ru n ges wo r k Fa r b e n k u g e l
which Runge died. A proponent although tremendous patience is has b een reprinted and can b e
of Aristotles color theory, Goethe necessary due to its length. downloaded in PDF format on the
believed color existed between black Internet, but is currently available
Phillip Otto Runge and white. Goethe regarded color only in German. I was able to view
17771810, Runges color sphere
Germany perception to be a psychotropic the original at the Goethe-Museum
effect and conducted physiological Runge was an artist who built in Dsseldorf.
experiments to invent a color circle the foundations for the German
for the six colors o ccurring in romantic painting style. He devoted
residual images. He explained this his later years to the study of color.
in terms of the two pure colors, Runge published his color theory
 Color Circles 15

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 4

Fig. 26: Symbolic use of color

6) Vereinung

Rot

Orange 4) edler kontrast Violett

2) Steigerung 3) Steigerung

Fig. 29: Runges color sphere. The diagram is a colored engraving.

Gelb 1) gemeiner Kontrast Blau
reiner ursprnglicher K.

Grn
Fig. 28
5) Vereinung Fig. 27

Fig. 27: Stegerung (elevation). Goethe used a color circle to explain his concept of Stegerung.
Fig. 28: Color wheel illustrating the human temperaments, created with assistance from Schiller. It
consisted of crimson, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple arranged around the circumference with
black at the center. The outermost ring is divided into choleric (autocrat, hero, adventurer), sanguine (good
person, enthusiast, elegant person), phlegmatic (teacher, historian, orator), and melancholic (philosopher, scholar,
Fig. 30: Diagram contained in Farbenkugel by Runge. It is a
monarch). The traits in parentheses are located in the middle.
three-dimensional version of Goethes color circle.
16

Chevreuls color alone. This was the phenomenon in hemisphere, making it difficult
Color harmony system originating which colors appear lighter when to visualize. For this reason, it is
from the illusion of surrounded by dark colors and occasionally misinterpreted, even in
and color solids color darker when surrounded by light academic publications.
colors, a fundamental aspect taught
The beginnings of practical French scientist and chromatic in the first stages of chromatics today.
color theories Charles Henrys color
researcher Michel-Eugne Chevreul He also identified the existence sphere
devised a color system for color of a contrasting effect in the
Michel-Eugne Chevreul
17861889,
harmony, publishing this in his coloration for complementary color Charles Henry was an assistant
France work The Principles of Harmony and relationships. This was likely the librarian at the Sorbonne, an assistant
Contrast of Colours in 1839. This work first research in the world in which professor at the institute of higher
won high praise as a book on color color arrangement was applied to education, and a mathematician and
theory encompassing all aspects of industrial productivity. philosopher on esthetics who held
color, from painting and pigments to Let us now examine Chevreuls the important position of director
printing. His subsequent book The color solid, referring to the three- at a psycho-physiological laboratory.
Charles Henry
18591926, Principles of Harmony and Contrast dimensional structure in Fig. 35. He included color reproductions of
France of Colours, and Their Applications to The color solid is a hemisphere a color sphere (Fig. 32) in his works
the Arts, published in 1864 (diagrams with white at the center of the Cercle Chromatique (1889) and La
printed in 1855) became a color theory base, pure colors arranged midway, Lumiere, La Couleur, La Forme (1922).
manual for Impressionist painters and tones (ton) varying toward the These works examine the relationship
at a time of significant changes in circumference. Fig. 31 shows the 20 between color and musical scales
the art world. Chevreuls color circle tone gradations from white to black. from a mathematical perspective.
was printed using lithography and Chevreuls color solid is based His works contain equations and
received the gold award at the Paris on the three characteristics of hue, graphs, giving them a somewhat
Expo held in 1855. tone, and turbidity. Chevreul called daunting aspect, but the color sphere
Not long after being appointed the gradations toward the center axis immediately betrays the influence of
director of dyeing at the Royal turbidity (ton rabattu) . The turbidity Chevreul.
Manufactory of Gobelins in France, of colors declines toward the base Henry was in contact with
C h e v re u l re c e i ve d c o m p l a i n t s toward the center axis and increases numerous artists, including Georges
Fig. 31: Chevreuls tone scale (for Blue). in a conical arrangement. The center
concerning the poor quality of the Seurat and Paul Signac, and was a
Pure color is located midway.
colors, including blue, mauve, gray, axis is achromatic color, from white supporter of the theories of the new
brown, and black. His investigations at the lower end, through gray, to Impressionists.
into the problems marked the black at the top. The common image
beginning of his serious studies we have of color solids usually
into color. His research showed that consists of pure colors arranged
the phenomenon did not involve around the equator with white at the
problems with dyeing technology, upper pole and black at the lower
but was attributable to the different pole. Chevreuls color solid, however,
ways in which a thread of a certain uses black for the exterior, with the
Fig. 32: From Charles Henrys La Lumiere, color appears when woven next to base becoming white and individual
La Couleur, La Forme (1922).
other colors, rather than viewed hues arranged midway along the
 Color Circles 17

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 5

Color solid diagram Divided color circle diagram Turbidity-0

Turbidity-1 Turbidity-2 Turbidity-3

Turbidity-4 Turbidity-5 Turbidity-6 Fig. 34: Chevreul (1861)

Fig. 35: Chevreuls three-dimensional color solid

Constant lightness plane Constant turbidity plane

Turbidity-7 Turbidity-8 Turbidity-9 (d = 4, 16, 20) (b = 0, 3, 6, 9)

Fig. 33: Ton rabattu from Chevreuls Expos dun moyen de definer et de nommer les couleurs (1861). Constant hue plane
(h = 0, 6, 12, 66)
(Fig. 33 and 34 are used with permission from Akira Kitabatakes Key Works in Chromatics.) Courtesy of Mitsuo Kobayashi (honorary professor, University of Electro-Communications)
 18

Mystic Fields color meet at the center of the sphere, the

Irozu-Mondou and its
Musical and circle respective base area ratios approach
debt to Fields color
color harmony British dye researcher and pigment
the harmonic ratio (5:3:8) of the three
primary colors derived by Field,
circle
System of light and pigment manufacturer George Field described suggesting a quest for a principle T h e M e i j i Re s t o r a t i o n i n
from the explanation of light his unique harmony theories in unifying color and shapes. No doubt Japan brought about tremendous
a number of books based on the this was inspired by Keplers attempts changes in education. 1872 saw
results of developing pigments to derive the laws of planetary the publication of The Elementary
and dyes. Notable works include motion from inscribed platonic Education Guide, based on practices
Chromatics (1817) , Chromatography solids. from the West. The first textbook
(1835) , and Rudiments of the Painters Fields color harmony theory in Japan on color, Irozu-Mondou, is
(1850) . As well as being a scientist, used an experimental device called influenced by the theories of Newton,
he was a proponent of Aristotles a metrochrome, which he devised Field, and Chevreul, with Wilsons
Fig. 36: Color scale color theories. Fig. 36 shows the to define the color harmonies of the diagram (Fig. 41) incorporated without
George Field illustration (not a color circle) included three primary colors of red, yellow, modification. This diagram was
1777?1854, in Chromatics. This diagram is also and blue as a compound ratio. The printed using woodblock printing,
England
used in the diagram showing the metrochrome featured three wedges with separate wood blocks for each
musical scale and color in Fig. 40. The engraved with a scale according color. Comparing the left and right
arrangement of colors between black thickness, as shown in Fig. 39. If diagrams on the right-hand page
and white at either end reflects the three primary color solutions were shows that the Japanese diagram is
Aristotelian perception of color. The added and overlaid to observe the identical to Fields diagram, except
numerous color illustrations included transparent colors through the for the circle of achromatic color in
in his works also convey a sense of viewing glass, an achromatic color the center. The actual colors used in
mysticism. could be obtained for the ratio red 5 : the printing clearly differ, but this is
Fields color circle naturally uses yellow 3 : blue 8. This ratio defined due to the materials used in printing.
pigment color mixtures, with the the harmony color mixture as the While color research in Japan
three primary colors arranged like area ratio. In other words, the ratio began much later than in the West,
overlapping petals with the center of 5:3:8 formed the harmony datum this volume marks the clear start of
containing achromatic black. The ratio. This was a ground-breaking color research in Japan.
tertiary color within the petals is idea from the point of expressing
expressed as Dk. color harmony quantitatively, but
Perhaps the most interesting it was also criticized for this reason
aspect is the quest for similarities by the likes of Bezold, Brucke, and
between color and shape with a Rood, aside from criticism of the
comparison of the three primary analogy to the musical scale.
colors, red, yellow, and blue, to The contributions of Fields
the musical scale do, mi, and so, research into pigments and dyes in
and to the three primary figures of the area of industrial technology was
lines, angles, and curves. As with highly acclaimed at the time, but
Fig. 37: From Chromatics: or, An essay on the the secondary colors, when the appears less widely acknowledged in
analogy and harmony of colours (1817).
secondary shapes (pyramid, cylinder, cone) later color research.
 Color Circles 19

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 6

Fig. 38: Fields color circle (1841). Fig. 41: Three primary colors and color mixing diagram in Irozu-Mondou (1876).

Fig. 39: Experimental color harmony metrochrome. Fig. 40: Fields color and sound comparative scale. Fig. 42: Color diagram by Wilson (USA).
20

Grassmanns color circle viewed from above. The line through colors. Herings theory assumed three
In search of purple likely means the color was fundamentally perceived opponent

applicable theory German mathematician

Hermann Gnther Grassmann is
not found in the spectrum. color pairs of red-green, yellow-blue,
and black-white. He also theorized
famous for Grassmanns Law for Wundts color sphere that the retina included black/white,
Building the foundations of color, which allows color to be red/green, and yellow/blue receptors,
modern chromatics expressed as a color space vector Wilhelm Wundt, a German speculating that these receptors
consisting of three - dimensional physiologist, philosopher, and underwent contrasting changes of
Hermann Gnther Grassmann RGB co ordinates. Grassmanns psychologist, is often called the father dissimilation and assimilation
18091877,
Germany 1853 color circle (Fig. 43) moves the of experiment psychology. Published due to light. Herings innovative
spectrum start and finish point in 1874, Wundts color sphere can be color circle in Fig. 49 suggests that
to the 12 oclock position, based seen as a development of the classical individual secondary colors can be
on Newtons color circle, and the Newtonian color circle. However, extracted by mixing in the ratios of
boundary lines for Newtons initial the center angles differ significantly the lines a, b, c and a, b, c in Fig. 48.
red and final violet are assumed to from those of Newton, although it is T h e Yo u n g - H e l m h o l t z
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz
18211894, correspond to the Fraunhofer B and unclear whether this is arbitrary or trichromatic theory and Herings
Germany H lines. Symbols indicated on the deliberate. The center of the sphere opponent color theory are both
Fraunhofer spectral diagram are is, as expected, neutral gray. considered valid today, based on
included inside the circle verifying the stage theory of color vision that
the positions of adjacent colors Herings four-primary- the neural information processing
in detail. Grassmann contributed color color circle involved in color perception depends
Ogden Rood to the foundations of mo dern on the stage of visual sensation.
18311902,
USA chromatics, his color circle analysis Focusing on color perception,
draws on a classical approach. Ewald Hering in 1878 proposed Ogden Roods comple-
the opponent color theory, which mentary color circle
Helmholtzs color circle sought to overturn the mainstream and harmony color
YoungHelmholtz theory. It did not circle
Hermann von Helmholtz, a win wide acceptance. According
Wilhelm Max Wundt
18321920, German physiologist and physicist, to the principles of mixed colors, Ogden Rood was an American
Germany made significant contributions in yellow is created by combining red physicist, professor at Columbia
physiological optics and acoustic and green in the three RGB primary University, and an amateur painter.
physiology. He develop ed and colors. However, Hering focused on Roods most important work is
presented the theory relating to observation results indicating that Modern Chromatics, published in
the three primary colors of light red and green hues could not be 1879, in which he provides his
Karl Ewald Konstantin Hering proposed some 50 years earlier by sensed simultaneously from yellow; famous color chart (Fig. 46), clearly
18341918, Thomas Young (the Young-Helmholtzs red and green hues could not be illustrating the differences between
Germany
physiological trichromatic theory) , which sensed when observing sp ecific the colors of pigment and light. His
made it possible to explain the colors; and yellow and green hues work was published in French in
colors of residual images and color could not be sensed simultaneously. 1881, becoming the color bible of
blindness. The color circle in Fig. 44 These observations prompted him to the neo-impressionist painters at the
shows a cone-shaped color solid as question the theory of three primary time. Pissarro, Seurat, and Signac
 Color Circles 21

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 7

(a)
a b c a b c
(a) (b)

Fig. 48: Hering. Diagram to illustrate

similar hues as ratios of individual hues.

Fig. 45: Roods pigment

Fig. 43: Grassmanns color circle (1923). complementary color
relationship diagram
(1879).

b:r= 0.75:0.25

b:r= 0.5:0.5

Fig. 47: Psychologist b:r= 0.25:0.75

Wundts color sphere
Fig. 49: Hering. Color circle r
(Farbenkugel).
created from four color
crescents.
Fig. 44: Basic plan for Helmholtzs color cone (1867).
Saturated primary colors are located on the periphery.

were all reported to be fascinated by

this book.
Rood was also an advisor to color
researcher Munsell. Roods practical
systemization of color formed an
essential part of Munsells later
work.
Fig. 46: Rood. (Upper) Pigment
mixing. (Lower) Light mixing
complementary color circle
(1879) Fig. 50: Herings color circle.
22

Hayters color circle Lacoutures color circle as the spectral primary colors. The
Color circles purple used by Jacobs was actually

modeled on Portrait artist and architect,

Charles Hayter in 1830 published a
In 1890, French botanist and
naturalist Charles Lacouture in Paris
the blue-violet color used by both
Bezold and Hemholtz.
flower petals work entitled A New Practical Treatise
on the Primitive Colours covering
published Rpertoire Chromatique.
In addition to b o oks on color,
Let us examine Jacobs color circle
(Fig. 55). The spectral primary colors
Attempts at creating
rules for creating various colors by Lacouture was a high school teacher mentioned above are arranged on
new color palettes mixing colors. This volume contains and the author of works on moss a circle, with the three secondary
Charles Hayter a number of fascinating colored and flowerless plants. Lacoutures colors yellow, blue, and carmine red
17611835,
England diagrams, but the main color Rpertoire Chromatique included a arranged in opposing positions from
system diagram (Fig. 51) placed at the color chart (Fig. 53) called the trilobe the center. Three complementary
beginning of the book strangely synoptique for analyzing color color pairs are therefore created
lacks colors. This may be due to mixtures. As suggested by the name, by the sp ectral primar y colors
the difficulties posed by working colors are arranged in the pattern and secondary colors. The color
with large numbers of colors. The of three leaves. The red, blue, and circle positions are arranged with
Charles Blanc
18131882,
three primary colors in Hayters yellow on the periphery form the opposing convex and concave curves,
France petal-arrangement diagram are the three primary colors, forming arcs forming complementary color pairs
same yellow, red, and blue proposed from these starting points. Colors that create six possible mixed colors.
by Leonardo da Vinci. The three vary gradually in six gradations Jacobs described the configuration
secondary colors are orange, green, toward the periphery, starting from of his color circle as an open garland,
and purple. The tertiary colors white at the origin. Red becomes and it featured orange, yellow-green,
Charles Lacouture are olive, brown, and slate gray R 1 , R 2 , a n d R 3 , a sys t e m t h a t blue -green, blue -violet, purple,
18321908,
(bluish gray) ; he uses slate gray with can perhaps be described as the and scarlet, proceeding clockwise.
France
several varying hues in a number invention of the color chart. Color Complementary color pairs formed
of places. Hayter does not appear charts are typically square grids, but a single f low, such as purple and
to distinguish between additive this chart was devised with a unique yellow-green. The numerous lines
color mixtures and subtractive color design right from the start. drawn on the three garlands separate
Michel Jacobs mixtures. the complementar y colors and
18771958,
Canada
Jacobs color circle alleviate the contrast. Jacobs used
Charles Blancs color the term spectral primary colors, but
circle In 1923, Canadian-born sculptor his color circle ultimately addressed
and artist Michel Jacobs wrote the pigment subtractive color mixtures.
Art critic and historian Charles book The Art of Color, in which he
B l a n c i n c l u d e d t h e C h ro m a t i c refers to the psychological effects
Rose color circle shown in Fig. 52, of color arrangement and proposes
representing a flower, in his manual unique theories on color harmony.
entitled Grammaire des Arts du Dessin. Jacobs was a prop onent of the
This book introduced Chevreuls color Young-Helmholtz theory and used
theory to various neo-impressionists, the three primary colors red, green,
including Seurat. and purple, which he referred to
 Color Circles 23

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 8

Fig. 55: Michel Jacobs, 1923.

Fig. 53: Blue, red, and yellow Trilobe Synoptique mixed color chart
devised by Lacouture.

Fig. 51: Hayters color circle (1830).

Fig. 52: Painting Compas (partial). Fig. 54: Lacoutures color circle titled Rosesynoptique. Fig. 56: Combination of harmonies.
 24

Ittens color circle Klees formative theories and

Bauhaus and color circle
color circles The ethos and methods of Johannes Itten, a Paul Klee was the successor to Itten, taking over
The quest for color harmony in design leading lecturer on color from 1920 at the Bauhaus, as professor of color teaching at the Bauhaus from
the pinnacle of design education, remain valid to 1923 onward. He, too, has left a number of color
this day. The large number of color frameworks circle ideas within his own formative theories,
The teaching of color at the Bauhaus represented
he taught were analyzed using color perception which we will examine here.
an aesthetic study of, and research into 18th
beyond the fundamentals of color, providing The details of Klees teachings on color
century theories of color, with a curriculum
incorporating the harmony theories of color and the optimum materials for the fundamentals of are covered extensively in his various works,
sound developed by Newton. design teaching. (See Fig. 59, 61, 62, and 63) Itten studied such as Das Bildnerische Denken and Beitra zur
under Adolf Hlzel in Stuttgart, learning all of the bildnerischen Formlehre (The Thinking Eye: The Notebook
Outside their classes, Johannes Itten, Wassily color theories, including those of Runge, Goethe, of Paul Klee). Perhaps no writer left as much detailed
Kandinsky, and Paul Klee undertook numerous
Chevreul, Ostwald, Schopenhauer, and Schreiber. information on his thought processes with regard
visualization experiments related to shape,
He went on to collate these classical color theories to color as Klee. His five-sided mysterious palette
color, and tone.
in his initial experiments. Ittens color circle can (Fig. 65) also indicates his thoughts on pigment color
be described as one of the most famous of all mixtures. He also produced diagrams depicting
color circles, invariably featured in textbooks on harmonies of color and sound.
color. Together with the 12-color circle (Fig. 61), the A characteristic of Klees diagrams is the
famous color star (Fig. 62) was a two-dimensional provision of dynamic laws of motion in which
version of Runges color sphere (Fig. 29). The most opposing colors are linked by gradations, with
Paul Klee famous aspect of Ittens color theory is his color emphasis placed on middle gray.
18791940,
Germany harmony theory, incorporating triads and tetrads, This is a characteristic shared by Ittens
but this had already been proposed by Chevreul. diagrams, which also reflect significant influence
This idea was analogous to the horoscope diagrams from classicists such as Plato, Aristotle, Robert
widely used in the West, such as those devised by Fludd, and Athanasius Kircher, as well as Runge
Ptolemy (Fig. 60), Galileo, and Comenius. and Goethe. Fludd and Kircher expressed universal
During his period at the Bauhaus from 1919 to mysticism using various diagrams. However, Klees
Johannes Itten
18881967, 1923, Itten established a personal studio inside the Canon of color totality diagram (Fig. 58) brings
Germany Knights Templar gothic-style building designed by to mind Aristotles theory of light and dark. The
Goethe in a park in Weimar. The mystic nuances bottommost part consists of darkness; the topmost
noticeable in Ittens work have clear origins in area is light. The three primary colors of red, blue,
these surroundings. and yellow rotate on a plane around the center.
Itten resigned abruptly from the Bauhaus in Klee described this arrangement as a canon of
October 1922 following disagreements with the color. The individual colors vary in width and
director, Gropius, and color teaching duties passed overlap, creating various intermediate colors (as in
to Paul Klee. Herings idea). The diagram appears at first glance to
be meaningless from a chromatic viewpoint, but it
expresses past color theories in a geometric format
Fig. 58: Paul Klees Canon of filtered through an artists sensibility.
Fig. 57: Canon of totality of color. color totality diagram.
 Color Circles 25

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 9

Gelb

Grn Rot
Fig. 59: Johannes Ittens color
harmony theory diagram

Cyan Magenta

Blau

Fig. 60: From the Latin version of

Ptolemys Harmony

Fig. 64: Klees three-primary color diagram

v Fig. 61: 12 color circles.

Color circles developed from the
primary colors of yellow, red,
blue, orange, green, and violet.
s Fig. 62: Ittens 12-coordinate
color star. Each hue has two
gradations from the midway
pure color to the center and
two gradations to black at the
periphery.
z Fig. 63: Ittens color solid.
Diagram recreatiung Runges
color sphere for teaching color
Fig. 65: Basic star shape color plane and
theory. The two at the top are
compound star by Paul Klee. Various
the color solid surfaces, and
extreme cases with common equilibrium
the bottom left is the horizontal
points connected by gray.
cross section at the equatorial
pure color plane. The bottom
right shows the vertical cross
section through blue and green.
 26

Ostwalds abacus three characteristics was based on a bead shape of Ostwalds color solid,
The birth of bead shape color central vertical axis for lightness in but a major difference is that the
system 10 steps from white (0) to black (10), colors making up the solid are
practical color and with 10 hues arranged at even determined based on perceptive

systems A multi-talented scientist,

Wilhelm Ostwald won the Nobel
intervals around the circumference.
The final version differed from the
(psychological) experimental data.

The quest for an international Prize for his research on catalysts and original following improvements,
color standard chemical reactions. In his later years, becoming a somewhat awkward
he devoted his time to color research, shape. This is because the maximum
devising his own color system and chroma values for each hue vary
prop osing a color arrangement between 10 and 15, resulting when Reference sources
method based on the principle: viewed from above in the uneven The following references were used in
preparing this document. The main
Harmony Equals Order. Ostwalds arrangement shown in Fig. 71. resources used are listed below. I wish
color system was based on the four Munsell sought to explain to thank the authors and publishers
primary colors used by Hering, and color simply, using a wide range concerned.
he designed a grayscale using the of illustrations, such as globes or Other references and recommended
WeberFechner Law governing the tangerine oranges to explain his reading are listed in the bibliography on
x Fig. 66: Munsell
page 114.
also first considered relationship between perception ideas. The diagrams used in his
spherical
arrangements. and stimulation. Triangular planes works alone would no doubt be Academic journals and catalogs:
(1905) of identical hue are formed by pure enough to form a single book. While
z Fig. 67: The color Charles Parkhurst and Robert L. Feller,
circle patented by colors (full colors) , white, and black the current Munsell color diagram Who Invented the Color Wheel? ,
Munsell in 1906 at each apex, and 24 of these hue uses 10 color hues, the diagrams in Color Research and Application, Vol.7
had the seven Number 3, 1982.
Newtonian colors planes are arranged in a double the 1906 patent application featured
Sven Hesselgren, Why Color Order
of red, orange, cone to create an abacus bead shape. Newtons seven hues. The Munsell
yellow, green, blue, Systems ? , Color Research and Application,
indigo, and violet. Ostwalds color system was improved color system is explained in greater Vol.9 Number 4, 1984.
His concept using in the 1950s to become part of the detail on pages 30 to 31. Mitsuo Kobayashi, The 34th Annual
10 colors appeared
later. DIN (German Institute for Standardization) Meeting of the Color Science Association
of Japan (2003), Abstract.
system and was absorbed in similar NCS color system
Wilhelm F. Ostwald Koji Ogata, Chromatics: Chromatography;
18531932, form in the 1970s into the NCS Color Theory: Chromatics (contained in
Germany Natural Color System. The NCS (Natural Color System) is a Catalog of Western Rare Books at Bunka Womens

color system used in the Swedish University Library).

Albert Munsells color industrial standards. The NCS

Books:
system color system expresses colors in
Akira Kitabatake, Key Works and
terms of constituent ratios of six
Illustrations in Chromatics (Yushodo).
Albert H. Munsell An American art teacher, Albert psychological elementary colors: Klaus Stromer, Color Systems in Art and
18581918 Henry Munsell in 1905 published white, black, red, yellow, green, and Science; Traditions and Colors (Golden);
USA Farbsysteme (Dumont).
A Color Notation, which provided blue. The colors are divided into
Rolf G. Kuehini, Color Space (Wiley-
a means of expressing all colors in 10 even steps between the primary Interscience).
terms of the three characteristics of colors red, yellow, green, and blue, Frans Gerritsen, Modern Color (Bijutsu
color: hue, value, and chroma. giving 40 hues. The shape of the Shuppan-sha); Evolution in Color (Schiffer
His color solid created using these color solid resembles the abacus Publishing, 1988).
 Color Circles 27

Color Circles Shown in Diagrams- 10

v Fig. 68: Ostwalds abacus bead shape color solid v Fig. 70: View from above the model published v Fig. 72: Swedish industrial standard
w Fig. 69: Ostwalds 24-color circle by Munsell in 1915. (20 hues) NCS color solid model
w Fig. 71: Munsells 100-hue circle w Fig. 73: NCS 40-hue (1979)

G R

B
 28
Fig. 75: CIE 1931 (xy chromacity diagram).

Yxy-CIE

0
53
520
chromacity diagram 0.80
0
54
The Yxy color space allows color 510 Adobe
d RGB
R
to b e expressed graphically in t wo
0
dimensions independent of intensity. 55
0.70
Plotting the wavelengths of the SWOP
O GRACoL
A 2
2006 C
Coated
d #1
visible sp ectrum converted into x-y
chromacity coordinates produces the 56
0 K leid Ink
Kaleido I k
horseshoe curve known as the spectral sRGB
R
lo cus (pure color light lo cus/lower diagram, 0.60
left ). All colors visible to the human 0
57
eye can be plotted within this curve.
500
Colors have b een added to the
x-y chromacity diagram on the right 0
0.50 58
f o r c l a r i t y, b u t s o m e c h r o m a t i c s
text b o oks recommend not adding y
color to the chromacity diagram. 0
59
The hue along the periphery of the
horseshoe varies in the spectral order 0.40
0
discovered by Newton. The straight 60

line connecting the two ends of the 0

61
horseshoe curve is known as the 0
p u r p l e b o u n d a r y. C o l o r s l o c a t e d 62
0
0.30 63 0
on this line consist of a mixture of 490 64 0
66
380 nm (violet) and 770 nm (red) light
and are not contained in the solar
spectrum.
0.20
y 520 spectrum locus y

560
500
480
600
0.10

480 770nm

380nm
purple line
470
0
x x 44 20
0 4
46 3380410
Fig. 74: The xy color chart enables gamut to be plotted for all types
of tristimulus value devices such as monitors and printers. Gamut 0 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70
refers to the range of colors that can be displayed by the device.
x
 Color Circles 29

CIE LAB
Color space
CIELAB color space is a uniform
color space recommended in 1976
by the International Commission
on Illumination (CIE), written as CIE
L*a*b*. This color space (Fig. 76) is
relatively uniform perceptually and
conforms closely to the red-green
and blue -yellow scales. CIELAB
is widely used in areas involving
reflective and transparent products, White
L
such as printing and graphic arts.
Adobe Photoshop, for example, uses
CIELAB as the internal color space CMYK

for calculation processing. (Refer to page

41 E: Color differences.)
sRGB

Fig. 77: The upper graph plots the CMYK

and sRGB color ranges on the horizontal
Yellow cross section of the Lab central portion.
+b

Green Red
-a +a

Blue way
-b

Black Fig. 76: CIE L*a*b* (1976).

L
30

a vertical bar with 0 (black) at the after a slash. For example, 5R8/4
Munsell notation
Modified bottom and 10 (white) at the top and indicates a red hue, fairly light, with

Munsell color As mentioned earlier, Albert. H.

Munsell (1858-1918) was an American
achromatic grays in between. This
forms the Munsell value (lightness)
moderate saturation. In other words,
pink. Similarly, 5P3/8 indicates
system art teacher who published A
Color Notation in 1905, a system
scale. The distance from the center
axis to the periphery is divided
a purple hue, quite dark, but with
high saturation: in other words, a
From visual appreciation to that made it possible to describe perceptually into even gradations, grape-like color.
digitalization real colors in terms of three color starting at 0 at the center. This As can be seen from Fig. 79 on
characteristics. distance expresses the Munsell the right-hand page, the maximum
This color system was based chroma (saturation) for a specific hue. chroma varies according to hue. The
on integers of 10. The color wheel Munsells color system was initially solid used to express perceived colors
was divided into ten using the five illustrated as a spherical diagram, therefore becomes an uneven shape
main Munsell hues (red, yellow, green, but was designed so that differences rather than a balanced sphere.
blue, and purple) and five intermediate between all colors appear uniform.
hues (yellow-red, green-yellow, blue-green,
purple-blue, and red-purple), with all hues
(See Fig. 78)
Colors are specified in Munsell
Modified Munsell
identified by names. notation in the form of hue followed
color system
The center of the circle has by lightness, with chroma indicated
Munsells color space is formed
o f p e rc e p t ua lly u nifor m c olor
Value=5 divisions. However, advances in color
measurement technology in the 20th
century led to the establishment
w Linked online from colormunki (http://www.colormunki.com/ of the XYZ color system in 1931,
Munsell). Allows
40-hue Munsell simulations.
and Judd and a number of other
researchers examined the color
chart in the Munsell Book of
Color in detail to correct a number
of discrepancies and achieve
compatibility between the Munsell
system and the XYZ color system.
This was the Munsell hue locus
correspondence diagram for the x-y
chromacity diagram, shown in Fig.
78 to the left. Thus, the Munsell
system was reborn in 1943 as the
Munsell Renotation System. This has
now entered widespread use, and the
Renotation is often dropped.

Fig. 78: Produced by Color Measurement Laboratory, War Food Administration, U.S.D.A.
 Color Circles 31

Hue

Value

x-rite
Agfa

Chroma

Fig. 79: Munsells three-characteristic explanation.