Leonardo

Report on "Colour 73". Second Congress of the International Colour Association (AIC)Author(s): Albert GarrettSource: Leonardo, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Summer, 1974), pp. 243-244Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1572898 .

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Leonardo, Vol. 7, pp. 243-244. Pergamon Press 1974. Printed in Great Britain

REPORT ON COLOUR 73. SECOND CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COLOUR ASSOCIATION (AIC)

Albert Garrett*

York, England, became a city of light between 2 and 6 July 1973 when the Second Congress of the Association was held there under the presi- dency of Yves le Grand of the Laboratory of Physics at the University of Paris, France. The Third Congress, under the presidency of Tarow Indow of Keio University, Japan, is scheduled to be held in 1977 at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., U.S.A. Information on the Third Congress and on the work of the Association may be obtained from the Secretary, AIC Verbin- dungsausschuss, c/o Prof. M. Richter, Unter den Eichen 87, D-1000 Berlin 45.

About 438 persons from 27 countries participated in the Second Congress and about 110 papers were presented. The proceedings of the Congress have been published [1]. Papers were presented under the following technical programme headings:colour appearance, colorimetry, colour vision deficiency, colour eningeering, colorant formulation, colour matching, colour measurement, colour metamer- ism, colour reproduction, colour rendering, colour scaling, colour underwater, colour vision, and ultraviolet radiation and fluorescence.

One afternoon session was devoted to the subject of Colour in Design and Architecture. A number of papers was also given in the technical sessions that are of special interest to those working in the visual fine arts, in particular, they dealt with colour harmony, colour and modern artists, colour education, colour in the environment, colour and community wealth, colour in rehabilitation and 14th century stained glass at the York Cathedral.

The Congress paid tribute to Deane B. Judd, who died in 1972. He had been awarded in 1972 the Newton Medal from the Colour Group of Great Britain. His best known book is Color in Business, Science and Industry [2]. I use this book in my course on colour for students at the School of

* Artist and teacher living at 10 Sunningdale Ave., East- cote, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 9SR, England. (Received 24 January 1974.)

Architecture, Polytechnic of North London, and find that their initial reaction to it is usually negative, until they realize its relevance for archi- tects from the points of view of aesthetics and of practical design. The book is especially helpful as regards teaching, for example, about the Munsell Colour System and the Newhall, Nickerson and Judd logarithmic reflectance curve. The latter enables designers to make assessments of how much light is reflected by different kinds of coloured surfaces.

Colour classification systems are being devised for different applications but some colour specialists question this continuing effort. One told me that the solid models used in colour systems might eventually become as formless as jelly. Neverthe- less, I find colour systems are helpful to a teacher, especially since few artists and designers go deeply into colour theory and the systems help them to arrive at better results in their work.

I believe that Op art owes much to the research on colour effects and colour systems carried out by Judd and Nickerson and others. Some kinds of visual fine art and of design require a high degree of accuracy in controlling the colours of paints and their matching. A display at the next Congress of Op art works that make use of colour effects would be highly beneficial both to the specialists in colour and to the artists. Tarow Indow, president of the Association at the time of the 1977 Congress, is a specialist in colour scaling.

After the Congress, I travelled by train with the Japanese artist Tsuneo Kondo and had the pleasure of assessing differences between the colours of landscapes passing our window and of Japanese landscapes by means of a Japanese standard scale on a paint card that he carries in his pocket. We would not have been able to do this with the idiosyncratic British Standard 4800 scale.

The papers dealing with electric light from in- candescent and fluorescent lamps should be of interest to artists who make kinetic works with electric light and to architects who are confronted

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Albert Garrett

with illumination problems. These artists, especi- ally, are at the mercy of manufacturers of lamps, who often take models out of production for no apparent reason except the commercial one of artificial obsolescence. If kinetic art with electric light becomes a major art form in the future, the steady production of standard lamps will take on real importance.

As I pointed out above, a session was devoted to Colour in Design and Architecture but the papers presented were of a much lower standard compared with those in the technical sessions. In my view, one needs papers in this domain of the quality one expects to find in Leonardo. It is now well-realized that writers of art books dealing with colour usually ignore the scientific knowledge on colour that has been accumulated and, instead, present cloudy personal opinions that are of no use to anyone. One might hope that artists and architects, ade- quately prepared to deal with colour in a scientific sense, will be drawn into the work of the Association and make contributions to its work on the basis of their artistic use of colour and light.

The addresses of the member organizations of the International Association are given below for the information of artists who might wish to take advantage of their activities.

AUSTRIA Arbeitskreis Farbe der

OVE-OIAV, Fachgruppe Messtechnik,

c/o Dr. F. Rotter, I Eschenbachgasse Nr. 9, A-1010 Wien.

BELGIUM Centre d'Information de la

Couleur Belgique, c/o Dr. R. H. Ardoullie, 40 Square Marie Louise, Bruxelles 4.

JAPAN Color Science Association

of Japan, c/o Dr. Y. Ohta, Tokyo Medical College, Nishi-Shinjuku 6-7-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160.

THE NETHERLANDS Nederlandse Vereniging

voor Kleurenstudie, c/o Dr. J. L. Ouweltjes, Hogeduinlaan 20, Waalre (N.B.).

FRANCE Centre d'Information de la

Couleur, c/o Mr. M. D6ribere, 1 bis, Avenue S6verine, 92400-Courbevoie.

CANADA Canadian Society for Color, c/o Dr. G. Wyszecki, Division of Physics, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario K1AOS1.

GERMANY AIC Verbindungsausschuss, c/o Professor Dr. M.

Richter, Unter den Eichen 87, D-100 Berlin 45.

GREAT BRITAIN The Colour Group (Great

Britain), c/o Miss M. B. Halstead, 9 Lowther Drive, Enfield, Middlesex.

HUNGARY Hungarian National Colour

Committee, c/o Dr. Nemcsics Antal, Magyar Elektrotechnikai

Egyesulet, Szabadsag Ter 17,

Budapest V.

ITALY Associazione Ottica Italiana, c/o Professor Vasco Ronchi, Largo Enrico Fermi, 6-Arcetri, 50125 Firence.

NORWAY Norsk Farveforum, c/o Mr. U. Willumsen, A/S Jotun, 3200 Sandefjord.

SPAIN Comite Espanol de Color, c/o Dr. A. Cruz, Instituto de Optica, Serrano 121, Madrid 6.

SWEDEN Svenska Farggruppen, c/o Professor Sven

Hesselgren, Drakslingan 21, 2-190 30 Sigtuna.

SWITZERLAND 'Pro Colore', Schweiz. Vereinigung fur die

Farbe, c/o Mr. A. O. Wuillemin, Seefeldstrasse 301, CH-8008 Zurich.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Inter-Society Color Council,

c/o Professor Fred W. Billmeyer, Jr.,

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,

Troy, New York 12181.

References

1. Colour 73. Proc. 2nd. Cong. of the Int. Colour Assoc. Adam Hilger, London, 1973. 566 pp., illus. ?12.00.

2. D. B. Judd and G. Wyszecki, Color in Business, Science and Industry (New York: John Wiley, 1967).

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