Chevreul’s Successive Contrast

By Kaitlyn Walter

Michel Eugène Chevreul1786-1889

• Born in Angers,France, Michel Chevreul became one of the most successful chemists in the 17th century and later the father of lipid chemistry. He lived to be 102.

Chevreul’s Work

• Known mostly for his experiments and findings with animal fat, Chevreul also became influential in the world of art.

• He became the director of a dye company which led him to his concept of simultaneous contrast or successive contrast.

Successive Contrast Definition

• “The terms "simultaneous contrast" and "successive contrast" refer to visual effects in which the appearance of a patch of light (the "test field") is affected by other light patches ("inducing fields") that are nearby in space and time, respectively. The names are somewhat misleading since both simultaneous and successive contrast involve inducing fields that are close in both time and space.”

• A simpler definition is: “The complementary color seen after viewing a particular color; the afterimage one sees after seeing a certain color.”

Taken from http://colorusage.arc.nasa.gov/Simult_and_succ_cont.php and

http://www.creativeglossary.com/color/successive-contrast.html

The Three Parts of the Theory• Chevreul distinguished three situations in which this color contrast

could be observed: • Simultaneous contrast, which appears in two colors viewed side

by side (which was familiar to painters since the Renaissance)• Successive contrast, more commonly called negative afterimages

(which had been studied since the mid 18th century)• Mixed contrast, which appears in two colors viewed one after

another (that is, the second color is mixed with the negative afterimage of the first color) — an effect Chrevreul observed in the distorted color judgments of textile buyers who examined first many fabrics of one color, then of another.

Taken from http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/chevreul.html

Simple Experiment

• To understand Successive Contrast here is a simple exercise.

• Stare at the small blue box in the large green box on the left for 5-10 seconds.

• Then look at the small empty box below. You should be able to see the aftereffect of the green and magenta background fields as pale magenta and green fields within the empty box.

How can Successive Contrast be Used

• Blue, yellow, red, (the triad) is visually dynamic (as long as little mixing is involved, in other words, a limited palette.)

• Perceived color of an object can be altered by two factors.

1) The color of the light that illuminates an object

2) Reflected color of objects near-by.• When any two objects or colors are placed

side by side, the eye and brain work together to maximize the contrast between them. For example a brown will look darker if placed up against a lighter color such as yellow. Then that yellow will look brighter when close to a darker color such as brown.

• In other words to make a color look brighter (example: highlights in hair) place a darker color next to it. To make a dark color look darker (such as shadows) place a bright color next to it.

Photographers that use Successive Contrast

• Title Unknown, by Philip Hyde.

• This photo uses the simultaneous contrast principal.

• Notice how the yellows bring out the blues. Because they are opposite on the color wheel they make each other look brighter.

• Title Unknown, by Art Wolfe.

• This photo uses the principal of Successive contrast or afterimage.

• Stare at the top of the figure’s head for 10-15 seconds, then scroll down to the blank slide. You should see an inverted image of the figure. The figure’s body should be white while the background is dark.

Artists that use Successive Contrast

• Sky Invader, by Tang Yau Hoong.

• Stare at the clouds for 10-15 seconds then scroll up to the blank slide. You should see an inverted afterimage.

Artists that Used The Simultaneous Contrast Theory

• Van Gogh used the theory in his painting Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, 1888.

• The yellow of the café looks brighter and even glowing because of the complementary color of the blue.

• Hans Hofmann’s Equinox, 1958. Notice how the contrasting colors create exciting forms, to which Hofmann termed “push and pull.”

• The Milkmaid, Jan Vermeer, c. 1658-60

• Notice how the yellow and blue complement each other making them both appear brighter.

Sources• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_effect• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/571236/law-of-successive-contrast• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Eug%C3%A8ne_Chevreul• http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/history/Chevreul/index.htm• http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/simultaneous.html• http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/teaching3.html• http://colorusage.arc.nasa.gov/Simult_and_succ_cont.php• http://library.thinkquest.org/27066/theeye/nlsuccontrast.html• http://www.mondofacto.com/facts/dictionary?successive+contrast• http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/chevreul.html• http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5388621• http://www.hagley.org/library/collections/subjectguides/frenchcollections/business.htm

l• http://www.kathleenhuebener.com/blog/chevreul-rules/• http://www.art.ucla.edu/photography/downloads/NOC_Walsh_Homer.pdf• http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/impressionism-origins-influences.htm• http://www.creativeglossary.com/color/successive-contrast.html