The greater the difference between the colours the more their association will be favourable to their mutual contrast; and the nearer they are alike, the greater the risk that their association will prove injurious to their beauty. a. Two Non-Complementaries improve each other by Association. Ex. Yellow and Blue are so dissimilar, that their contrast is sufficiently great to produce a favourable association, although the associated colours belong to different scales of yellow and blue. b. One Colour, placed in Contact with another Colour which is not complementary to it, is improved, but the other is injured. Ex. A Blue, which is improved by yellow, being placed beside a bluish Violet, may lose beauty by becoming greenish, while the orange it adds to the violet, neutralising its excess of blue, improves rather than injures it. c. Two Non-Complementary Colours mutually injure each other. Ex. A Violet and a Blue mutually injure each other, because the first makes the second look green, and the second neutralises the blue of the violet and makes it look faded. It may happen that the colours are modified, but neither gain nor lose in beauty; or that one gains without the other losing, and that one neither gains nor loses, while the other loses. IN THE ASSOCIATION OF TWO COLOURS OF EQUAL TONE, THE HEIGHT OF THE TONE MAY INFLUENCE THE BEAUTY OF THE ASSOCIATION. Ex. A deep indigo-blue, and an equally deep red, gain by contact: the blue by losing violet, will become pure blue; the red, acquiring orange, will become brighter. But if we take light tones of the same scales, the blue may become too green to be good as a blue, and the red, by acquiring orange, may become too yellow to be a good red. In the association of two colours belonging to the same scale, or to scales nearly allied, but of tones very widely apart, the contrast of tone may have a favourable influence upon the beauty of the light tone: Because, if the latter is not a pure colour, its association with the deep tone brightening it, will purify what grey it has. INFLUENCE OF THE CONTIGUITY OF WHITE ON White substances contiguous to coloured substances appear sensibly modified when viewed together, although the modification may not be very apparent unless we are familiar with the law of contrast; but knowing this law, the modification may be recognised if the colours opposed to the white be not too deep. Thus: if red and white are placed in contact, the white becomes tinged with the complementary of red, which is green, and makes the red appear deeper and brighter. Black and white, which may be considered as complementary to each other, conformably to the law of contrast of tone, differ more when viewed in contact than when alone, because the effect of the white light reflected by the black is more or less neutralised by the light of the white stripe; and it is by an analogous action that white heightens the tone of the colours with which it is placed in contact. All the primary colours gain by association with white, but the resulting binary assortments are not all equally agreeable; the height of tone of the colour has a great influence upon the effect of its assortment with white; thus Light blue and light red assort better with white than dark blue and dark red, because the latter present too great a contrast of tone. White placed beside a colour strengthens its tone; it acts as if we took away from the colour the white light that enfeebled its intensity. INFLUENCE OF THE CONTIGUITY OF BLACK ON COLOURS. A black surface being deeper than the colour with which it is in contact, contrast of tone must tend to deepen it still more, while it must tend to lower the tone of the contiguous colour, for exactly the same reason that white, if in contact with it, would heighten it. Black surfaces appear tinted with the complementary of the coloured light of the contiguous body; but the tint will be very faint, because it is manifested upon a ground possessing but a feeble power of reflecting light. The lowering of the tone of a colour in contact with Black is always perceptible; but it is very remarkable that the Black itself is weakened when the contiguous colour is sombre, yielding a luminous complementary. Black may be advantageously combined not only with sombre colours to produce harmonies of analogy, but also with light and brilliant colours to produce harmonies of contrast, as may be seen in the works of Chinese artists. No assortment of the primary colours with Black is disagreeable, but a generic difference of harmony exists between these assortments, which is not presented in the same degree in the binary assortment of the same colours with white. For the splendour of the white is so d dominant in the latter, that whatever be the difference in light or brilliancy observable between the different colours associated, there will always be harmony of contrast. The deep tones of all the scales, and even of the Blue and Violet scales (which, strictly speaking, are not deep), form with Black harmonies of analogy and not of contrast. So also do the unbroken tones of the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and the very light tones of the Violet and Blue scales. The association of Black with sombre colours, as Blue and Violet, the complementaries of which, Orange and Greenish Yellow, are luminous, may diminish the contrast of tone, if the colours are in contiguity with Black, or not very distant; in this case the Black loses much of its vigour. Black placed beside a colour lowers its tone; it acts as if we added Black to the complementary of the contiguous colour. In some cases it impoverishes it, as in the case of certain yellows. In calico-printing the influence of contrast is very important, for the pattern may appear to be very different in colour from what was intended, and from what it really is. If the pattern is Black, it appears tinged with the complementary of the ground upon which it is printed. The modifications Black patterns undergo upon different coloured grounds, are as follows: Upon a Red ground, they appear Dark Green. Upon an Orange ground, they appear Bluish-Black. Upon a Yellow ground, they appear Black, of a feeble Violet tint, on account of the great contrast of tone. Upon a Green ground, they appear Reddish-Grey. Upon a Blue ground, they appear Orange-Grey. Upon a Violet ground, they appear Greenish Yellow-Grey. INFLUENCE OF THE CONTIGUITY OF GREY ON Grey bodies properly selected as to height of tone, when contiguous to coloured bodies, exhibit the phenomena of contrast of colour more strikingly than either black or white substances do. If, instead of normal grey, we placed a coloured body in contact with a Grey of a complementary tint, these tints will be remarkably heightened by the complementaries added to them by the coloured bodies. Thus, if an orange colour be placed on a bluish-grey, this latter will be singularly heightened with blue, the complementary of orange. All the primary colours gain in purity and brilliancy by the proximity of grey; but the effects are far from being similar, or even analogous to those which result from the proximity of the same colours with white. White allows each colour to preserve its integrity, and even heightens them by contrast, and can never be taken for a colour itself. But Grey can; for with the darkest colours, as Blue and Violet, and with the deep tones in general, it produces associations which enter into analogous harmonies, while with the brilliant colours, as Red, Orange, Yellow, and the light tones of Green, they form harmonies of contrast. Although White contrasts more with the sombre colours than with the luminous, there is not the same difference between White and these two classes of colours as there is between them and Grey. The ground, as well as the interval or distance we make between the coloured bodies, has some influence on the effect. In furniture patterns, the opposition of the ground to the prevailing colour of the pattern worked upon it is too often neglected. For example: if we put a garland of flowers upon a crimson ground, it is necessary that for the most part they be blue, yellow, and white flowers, for if we put red flowers on it, they will appear orange rather than purple; they must be surrounded with green leaves contiguous to the ground. When the ground is greenish, red and pink flowers must predominate over the others. If the ground is of the colour of dead leaves, then blue, violet, white, and pink flowers will be suited to it. HARMONY OF COLOURS. There are six distinct Harmonies of Colours, which may be comprised under two groups: FIRST GROUP.-HARMONIES OF ANALOGOUS COLOURS. 1o. Harmony of scale, proceeding from the simultaneous view of different tones of a single scale, more or less approximating. 2o. Harmony of hues, proceeding from the simultaneous view of tones of nearly the same height, or nearly so, belonging to scales more or less approximating. 3°. Harmony of a dominant coloured light, proceeding from the simultaneous view of different colours assorted conformably to the law of contrast, but one of them predominating, as if they were seen through a glass stained with a faint tone of that colour. SECOND GROUP.-HARMONIES OF CONTRAST. 1o. Harmony of contrast of scale, arising from two distinct tones of the same scale. 2o. Harmony of contrast of hues, arising from tones of different heights, each belonging to contiguous scales. 3°. Harmony of contrast of colours, arising from the simultaneous view of colours belonging to widely different scales, assorted according to the law of contrast; the difference in height of juxtaposed tones may also augment the contrast of colour. 1. In the harmony of contrast, the complementary assortment is superior to every other; the tones must, however, be nearly of equal intensity. 2. The primaries grouped in pairs assort better as a harmony of contrast than an arrangement formed of one of these primaries and a binary of which that primary is an element, thus Blue and Yellow harmonise better than Red and Orange, because Yellow and Red harmonise better than Yellow and Orange, because the binary Orange contains Yellow as one of its elements. 3. The assortment of red, yellow, and blue with a binary containing the primary, contrasts better when the primary is more luminous than the binary. Therefore, in this assortment, it is better for the primary to be of a lower tone than the binary, thus Red and Violet harmonise better than Blue and Violet. Yellow and Orange harmonise better than Red and Orange. 4. When two colours do not look well together, separate them with white. It is better for the white to be placed between each colour than between every two colours. 5. Black never produces a bad effect when placed between two luminous colours, and is, therefore, often preferable to white for separating colours from each other, thus Red and Orange do not go well together, but if separated by black an agreeable and harmonious effect is produced. 6. Black harmonises with sombre colours, Blue and Violet, and with broken tones of luminous colours produces harmony of analogy sometimes with a good effect. 7. Black does not associate so well with a luminous and a sombre colour, as it does with two luminous colours. In all the following assortments Black is inferior to White: Red and Blue, Orange and Blue. Red and Violet, Orange and Violet. 8. Although Grey does not produce a bad effect with two luminous colours, yet it is generally inferior to Black and to White. |