Josef Albers Theory of colour
Designers generally think of
Josef Albers work as a colour theorist because of 'Interaction
of Colour', his
globally renound book. He was an American artist, born in Germany in 1888 and
died in 1976. He was well known for bringing the European modernist style,
associated with Bauhaus to the united states. It was at the Bauhaus in which
Albers and his teacher Johannes Itten started there in depth study into colour
theory. Outside of the design world, Albers was also abstract painter. Albers
theory of colour explains how colour is always changing in accordance to its
surroundings. “In
my color book there is no new theory of colour. But, in it, there is a way to
learn to see”. He believed colours are constantly
changing and change due to the other colours they are surrounded by. Different
colours can create completely different moods when placed next to each other. People have strong preferences in regard to
colours and they are understood through experience. People have strong
associations with particular colour combinations, for example reds and greens
together represent Christmas, green is eco and natural etc. A colour can be made to stand out and
create highlights, but in another context could merge and sit snuggly into the
background of a piece. Albers also taught, he often
required students to use colours that they disliked in order to have them
realise that the colour can change depending where its put. He pushed the idea that colour is almost never seen as it really is and
we are trained to interpret colours due to their relationships with other colours.
Some experiments from my street colour swatch:
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