Chapter 5

158. Mechanical lighting is so easily undertaken that it predisposes one to extravagance. Properly applied, artificial light adds materially to the charm of a room, but with illumination secured by the mere twist of the wrist one is prone to ignore the value of shadows and kill the beauty of light and shade by throwing illumination into the remotest corners. The danger to good decoration is not only in overlighting, but in overdecorating, and commercialism naturally encourages this tendency. The floor is frequently best treated if not entirely covered with a one-pattern treatment; the walls are frequently most pleasing if done in several papers instead of one. The most effective room is the one lighted in various degrees of strength, and while the decorator unconsciously follows this idea and avoids superabundance of pattern by using panels, friezes and wainscotings, we believe that each and every section or part of a room should be treated separately, observing, of course, a consistent spirit of design, preserving the period style and the general color effect; we would vary the actual shade of coloring and the size of pattern according to the dimensions of the wall space it occupies. The large patterns and the strong colorings which may be appropriate to an exposed wall are all out of proportion in narrow or darkened confines. Dark and deep recesses should obviously be treated differently to advanced or conspicuous spaces.

159. At a recent meeting of the Illuminating Engineering Society, D. McFarlan Moore made the following observations: "A few years ago there was practically no way of changing the colors of the various forms of lamps, that is, the candle had its color perforce; such a thing as modifying it was not dreamed of. The oil lamp had its color; the open burner gas flame its color, the incandescent lamp its color, and the arc lamp its color. At the present time there are only two ways widely in use of varying the color; that is, if a person wishes to have a light of a different color, there are two main ways of getting it. One way is to get another light source, and the other way is to use a diffusion globe of some kind, which in any instance is extremely unscientific and inefficient. Some of the most recent advances in this line are connected with the flaming arc lamp. There we have an instance where the first step, at least, was taken toward scientifically controlling the color value. I refer to placing different chemicals in the carbon and thereby obtaining a color which can, to a very great extent, be determined previously. But still it by no means can be said that by means of the flaming arc lamp the color factor is under perfect control. However, it is possible now to have the color value under perfect control, and this is obtained by utilizing a vacuum tube, and by changing the various gases used in the tube to change the color. This has many advantages, and from a scientific standpoint it cannot be criticised, as can the other methods which have been used. For example, if you use a properly regulated vacuum tube and feed it with air only, a pink light results; if you feed it with nitrogen a yellow light results, and such a light can be used for a great many purposes; in fact its range of usefulness so far as the color is concerned, is about the same as that of the ordinary incandescent lamp, and therefore can be used by florists or by clothing merchants, and the distortion is not any worse than that of the ordinary incandescent lamp. However, it is not by any means claimed that when a tube is fed nitrogen, that the color is at all near daylight; it is simply a color which appears about the same as that produced by the ordinary incandescent lamp. Due to the enormous radiating surfaces of the tube, the color in day time looks considerably redder than that of the incandescent lamp because the lamp is extremely small as compared with the tube. When such a tube is fed with carbon dioxide at a definite pressure, and at a definite intensity, a light is obtained that undoubtedly is closer to average daylight color values than any light which has ever been produced before, and we can almost say that it is entirely satisfactory. For instance, experts in matching colors in the largest dye works of this country, men who have tried all other forms of light, and found them not at all suitable for their uses, have matched their colors under a vacuum tube supplied with carbon dioxide and have found after months of practical use that they could not detect any difference between most delicate lavender shades, when they are matched at night time under the tube and in day time by daylight, not direct sunlight."

#DRESS AND COMPLEXION#

160. The nerves of the eye, exhilarated by any pronounced color, unconsciously observe the complement of that color when turned from it. The eye accustomed to the red of a woman's dress, unconsciously sees a greenish cast in the face that is naturally pale, and in the same way the pallor of a woman's face takes on a tint of red as the complement or contrast of a green dress. As one's appetite for the thing that is sweet becomes exhausted by a superabundance of sweets, so the eye resting upon a mass of red in the dress of a woman fails to appreciate the red tint in the face, and the face thus juxtaposed becomes pallid. A red-faced woman often wears brighter red in dress, so that her face may appear less red. The blue dress gives yellow to the face; the yellow dress gives blue; these results are altered materially by the intervention of white between the face and the dress. White intensifies color. If there is a tinge of pink in the face white brings it out. If there is sallowness in the face white accentuates it. It is for this reason that many women wear yellow instead of white at the neck, so that the yellow of the face becomes less conspicuous by contrast. (See ¶ 31.)

161. It is dangerous, however, in matters of dress to strictly apply this rule, because color has a temperamental influence apart from the purely visual. Some women are positively depressed by certain colors; such colors are to be avoided, no matter what the deductions of theory. (See ¶ 94.)

162. The black dress will make a woman look pale, for the reason that the black absorbs whatever color there may be in her face. A dark color has also absorbent characteristics. The lighter the color, the less absorbent. Hence light greens are preferable to bring out the color in the face than dark greens, assuming that we are to consider only this point, which is all that is necessary to consider in house decoration. Therefore light greens as a background to theater boxes or as a wall background are always desirable.

#COLOR TERMS#

BROKEN COLOR. Color changed by the addition of black, white or gray.

CHROMA. Color.

COLD COLORS are colors containing very little, if any, red or yellow.

CONTRAST ANALOGIES. Apparent contrasts of secondary and tertiary colors which have constituent parts that are related. Thus compositions of citrine and plum are apparent contrasts, citrine being one of the three tertiary colors, russet, slate and citrine, and plum being composed of russet and slate, but in both citrine and plum there is red, yellow and blue; hence related. There can be no true contrasts excepting between primaries and secondaries.

GRAY. Normal gray is black and white mixed, but quaternary colors are also called grays, or colors of the dull or neutral scale.

HARMONY OF ANALOGY is produced by using related colors.

HARMONY OF CONTRAST. The juxtaposition of a primary color, for example, with a secondary made of the other two primaries. Thus of the primaries red, yellow and blue, the contrasts would be red and green. Of the two colors thus forming contrast the one is said to be the COMPLEMENTARY of the other.

HUE. Applied to the predominating color in a composition.

INTENSE OR SATURATED COLORS. Colors that are pure, having no tint or shade.

NEUTRAL COLORS. Applied to black, gray and quaternary colors.

NORMAL. Intense colors of the prism. Colors of the natural scale.

PRISMATIC COLORS are the colors viewed through a prism.

QUATERNARY COLORS. Made by combining two tertiary colors. Quaternary colors are plum, sage and buff.

SCALE. Relates to colors of the same degree of tone.

SECONDARY COLORS. Orange, green and violet, each a combination of two primaries.

SHADE. Produced by the addition of black to a normal color.

SOMBRE COLORS. Blue, violet and the subdued tones of luminous colors.

SPECTRUM. The illusion of color produced by means of the prism.

TERTIARY COLORS. Made by combining two secondary colors; tertiary colors are slate, russet and citrine.

TINT. Produced by the addition of white to a normal color.

TONES are the gradations of color by adding either black or white.

WARM COLORS or luminous colors are those having normal yellow or red in the preponderance.

ADVANCING COLORS. Reds and bright yellow arouse the nerve sense more quickly than blue or tones of color predominating in blue. Hence they are called advancing colors.

RECEDING COLORS. Blue colors or colors in which blue predominate or the exciting influences of yellow or red are subjugated, are cold or receding colors.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Paragraph. Page.

Adjoining Rooms 38 to 47 Advancing Colors 77, 78, 79, 80, 89 Angles, Illusion of 113, 114, 115, 117 Artificial Light, Colors of 86

Balance of Pattern 75, 76 Borders 61, 62, 81, 86 Bric-à-brac 60, 89 Black, The Use of 33

Color Nomenclature 9 Complexion 160 Contrasting Colors 12, 14 to 24 Contrast Analogies 17 to 20 Ceiling 37, 42, 43, 93 Curtains 53 to 56 Cove and Ceiling 56 Cornice 63 Chair Coverings 64 Colors that Give Size to a Room (See Receding Colors) Carpet 81 Color Sympathies 95 Curves, The Use of 107, 108, 111, 114, 116, 118 Color Terms 120 to 134 Chart 127

Dress, Depressing Influences 161 Dress, Woman's 160 Decorative Illumination 141 Definitions 89 Draperies 42, 43 Decorative Proportions 37

Exciting Colors 94, 160

Frieze, The Use of (See Wall Proportions, also Room Combinations) Floors 42, 81, 84, 86, 87 42, 43

Gray, The Use of 32, 91, 92 Guide to Color Harmony 127

Harmonies Mechanically Determined 132 Height Effects 75, 76 Harmony of Analogy 13, 17, 27, 93 Harmonies 10

Illusion in the Use of Lines 107 to 119 Intensification of Color 31, 33, 159

Joy in Lines (See Curves)

Lights and Shadows 158 Lighting a Room, Candle-power Needed 157 Light Installation 84 Light, Effect on Color 82 Luminous Colors (See Advancing Colors) Large Room, Dark 34 Low-Ceiling Rooms 58 Large Rooms 58 Large, Well-Lighted Rooms 26 34 Light 1, 8

Mixing Colors 8

Neutrals 121 National Types of Color 47, 48 Nature Colors 35, 96 North Light 37, 59, 90, 91

Proportions in Color Contrast 22 to 24, 28 to 30, 35 Pigments, The Use of 22 Proportions Effected by Design (See Decorative Proportions) Proportions Effected by Color 77 Period Uses of Color 47, 48 Psychology of Color 94 Picture Moldings 50 Plate-Rails 48 to 59 Progression of Color 34, 39 Prismatic Colors 6, 7, 8

Room Combinations 23 to 28 Rugs 81, 84 Rooms Under Normal Conditions 42, 43 Receding Colors 77, 80, 89 Reflection 5, 135, 155, 156

Spectrum 1 Small Dark Rooms 21 35 Small Well-Lighted Rooms 25 35 Sequence of Color 34, 35, 36, 41 South Light 37, 59 Side-wall 48 to 57, 92 Small Room, High Ceiling 35 Small Room, Low Ceiling 35 Side-wall as Keynote 92 Straight Lines, Effect of 107, 109, 111-113, 115-117, 119 Seriousness in Lines (See Straight Lines) Spectrum Theories 121, 122

Trade Terms Meaningless 124, 125 Taste in Color, to Determine 94

White, The Use of 31, 33, 88, 89, 98, 159, 160 Wood Trims 48 to 59 Wainscoting 48 to 57, 62, 93 42, 43 Width Effects 82 to 85, 87 Wall Proportions 33 to 34