Color is Not a Modern Obsession
Do you have trouble mixing colors or deciding which colors look good with other colors? Pantone Color Formula Guides, invented by Lawrence Herbert, have been the standard for mixing colors since 1963. The Pantone Matching System, a book of standardized colors in a fan format, was invented for identifying, matching and communicating colors accurately. But did you know that the system for actually mixing the colors to make different hues and tones was invented more than 270 years earlier? In 1692 an artist known as A. Boogert hand wrote an 800 page book about mixing watercolors. The book, Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau, was never reproduced, even though it was intended as an educational guide. You can see the entire book on the e-corpus website.
There is also another system called Color-Aid Paper, developed in 1948, that provides you with a set of 314 or 220 color swatches (or glorified large paint chips). It was originally used as a backdrop for photographers, but when Josef Albers started using it to teach design classes, it became a standard tool in the graphic artist’s toolbox. These pieces of paper can be cut, torn, and collaged into designs and compositions, that can literally keep you up all night with glue-covered fingers and way too many X-Acto blade cuts. If you haven’t ever experienced the joy of Color-Aid Paper, it will set your creative juices flowing and free up your imagination like no other. So much color … so little time!
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