Birren, Faber. Creative Color: A Dynamic Approach For Artists and Designers. West Chester: Schiffer Publishing, 1961.
This book is a very informative study of color and it's history. It also touches on the author's own ideas and theories on color. Birren begins the book with a brief history in the science of color and the development of the color circle. He gives many examples and explanations of various color circles to include the color circles of Newton, Ives, Ostwald, and Munsell.
Birren suggests that the reader to construct their own color circles with gradual changes in hue between colors. These color circles can have any number of colors on it as long as they are in chromatic order. He says that by constructing this color circle, the reader will get a visual understanding of his or her color preference. He says that each color circle will vary according to the individual who constructs it. I found this interesting and different from the "usual" twelve-color color circle that has only the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors on it. This color circle is different because it maps the artist's "inner" color, or color that appeals to them, rather than predetermined hues equally spaced around the circle.
Birren describes his choice to avoid highly technical or scientific organization of color in the following quote. He writes,
Where the artistic expression is concerned, the process of training should be left open the mind rather than confine it. For some reason or other, training in color too frequently gets lost in a maze of fussy detail. An artist perhaps no more reason to work out the involved details of a color system than a pianist has reason to build a piano. Too much discipline of temperament runs the danger of discouraging the spirit rather than leaving it happily free. Science is essentially intellectual; art is essentially emotional. (23)
There are parts of the book that I found to be in total contrast to the above attitude of freedom in color expression expressed by Birren. In a later chapter called Color Organization, Birren explains his mathematical formula for calculating exact colors within a given hue. He elaborates on the Ostwald color triangle by giving each shade, tone, and chroma within a hue, a certain fractional number. By assigning a number to black, white, and a given hue, the artist can mix any color within that particular hue's range. I found this mathematical method to color mixing to be too calculating for my personal taste. I also felt it was inconsistent with both Birren's earlier ideas of color and the works of the Impressionists.
There are a few statements made by Birren that I disagree with. The first is in the chapter Color Mixing. Birren writes, "The fewest basic colors necessary to form a spectrum or color circle of high intensity are five in number: a vermilion red, a clear yellow, a turquoise blue, an ultramarine blue, and a purple" (35).
I disagree with Birren in that I feel that you also need an orange and maybe a green. If I were to construct a palette using as few colors as possible to achieve high intensity, I would choose: cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, cadmium red, pthalo blue, and pthalo green. Purple, whose value is dark to give it any intensity without the use of mixing it with another color, is omitted. I find it hard to mix an intense orange with cadmium yellow and red. The cadmium orange from the tube is much more intense than any mixture I've seen or made.
The second is in the chapter Complimentary Harmonies. Birren states that all compliments are equal. I disagree and believe that red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and violet are not equal in that they are all different in value. By placing a green next to a red, both will be equally intense and equal in value. Blue and orange will differ slightly in value while yellow and violet will greatly differ in value. Yellow will draw your attention more than the violet due to its high value while, on the other hand, red and green will draw your attention equally because of their likeness in value.
The third statement is in the chapter The Law of Field Size. Here, Birren says that the color of objects does not change under different lighting conditions. He writes, "However, whether the day is bright or dim, the colors of familiar things remain quite stable. That is white doesn't turn gray when a shadow passes over the sun. Nor would a gray surface turn white if sunlight struck it"(67). I totally disagree with this statement. I've seen the difference in color change in nature as a storm approaches on a sunny day. As it is sunny, the leaves of the trees start out a bright green with yellow highlights. As the storm approaches, due to the dark gray-blue background of the sky, the leaves turn a dull white/viridian color. All colors are affected by the colors that surround them. Other than these few disagreements, I found Birren's book well written and informative.