Colour - Johannes Itten and Josef Albers

Johannes Itten was a painter, writer and theorist whom was among the first instructors at the Bauhaus: a well know German art school of architecture and design. 

The Staatliches Bauhaus became famous for its approach to design; and its teaching- breaking away from traditional art education. It attempted to teach students to combine aesthetics with function, training students equally in art and technical craftsmanship to break away the separation between the two. 

The school also drew attention to using experimenting and problem solving before moving onto more specialised courses. There Itten encouraged exploring with feelings, experimenting with colours, materials and forms instead of copying the works of old masters and taught colour theory. 

Johannes was one of the first to associate different colours with specific emotions and

• Studied the impact of colour on our moods
• How individuals perceive colour
• Identified strategies for successful colour combination:

• Itten's colour wheel was easier to understand and contained twelve colours: the three primary colours, the three secondary, and the six tertiary colours.

Johannes Itten's 7 Colour contrasts:

-Contrast of hue

• juxtaposition of different hues. 
• is affected by the distance between the hues on a colour wheel.

-Dark- light contrast

• juxtaposition of light and dark values.

-Contrast of saturation

• juxtaposition between pure, intense and dull, diluted colours

-Complementary colours

• contrast between two opposite colours on the colour wheel.

-Simultaneous contrast

• the way two adjacent colours affect each other
• one colour can change how we perceive the tone and hue of another 
• some illusions can be accomplished with this contrast.

-Cool- warm contrast

• contrast between hues considered “warm” and “cool”.

-Contrast of extension 

• in relation to the visual weight and colour: the contrast between the relative areas of two or more colour patches 

Josef Albers' observations are not only on how we see colour, but also feeling the relationships between colours. This is covered in his book: 'Interaction of Colour',1963 - on colour theory which includes lessons on:

• identified how colours neutralise or alter those around them
• perception of colour- based on how colours interact/ how light affects hue
• how, what he called "the normal human eye" was not able to grasp certain colour phenomena due to the limitations of its perceptual capabilities

Albers addresses black and white in terms of value, as well as hue.

• black and white become specific when placed alongside other similar versions of themselves (or any other thing for that matter) 

There is a conditionality regarding colour.

• colour can exist in our imagination 
• when colour is communicated it can get lost in translation

This leads to the question of whether colour is only relative to given situations. Albers instructs that colour is more than passive.

• in so many examples colour is interactive, it can be determined and purposely activated when the group comes together to reason through what it sees

When two colours are brought together in a transparency mix, the third colour becomes a new colour, not a mix of the two- this third colour speaks to uniqueness and specificity.

Albers also emphasizes that colour should be considered for its value, inasmuch as for its saturation. This helps to give colour its meaning within the specificity of a place.