Part 10

By reference to the Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales on Page 41 it will be seen that we have only twelve scales and but three tones in each scale, instead of eighteen scales and five tones, as in the pure scales, for which there is a good reason.

For educational purposes in the elementary grades, which is the only place where there is a legitimate use for colored papers, the steps in gradation of hue or tone must not be too short, and if the saturation or intensity of the normal colors in the several scales is reduced by adding gray, as in the broken colors, there is not the possibility for as many steps in either hues or tones without leaving those colors adjacent to each other too nearly alike. Therefore in the broken colors there are but thirty-six, instead of ninety, as in the pure scales.

The distinction between pure colors with tints and shades, and broken colors in various tones, should be made very plain to the children whenever the subject is brought to their notice, because it is a vital point in the classification of colors. Educationally this is one of the most objectionable features in the old red, yellow and blue theory of color composition, because no distinction is observed between pure and broken colors in classification. In the Bradley colored papers the distinction is made very decided for educational purposes, so that no one would for a moment tolerate the mixture of the normal colors from the pure scales with the normal colors from the broken scales in the formation of a spectrum.

This may be illustrated by a selection as follows: First lay in order the normal spectrum colors with the pure colors found in the first section of the sample book, thereby forming the central vertical column of Fig. 10. Then substitute for the orange, green and violet, those colors selected from the collection of broken colors, and the result will seem to render the operation absurd, but it is the same in principle as the results produced in the attempt to form a spectrum by the combination of three primary pigments, red, yellow and blue, because so produced the orange, green and violet, show by disk analysis from 54 to 80 per cent of black and white and are therefore as much broken as the corresponding colors in the papers of the broken scales, but not exactly the same in tone.

Engine Colored Papers.

Those papers which are termed "Engine Colored Papers" are so named from the process of manufacture as distinguished from "coated papers" which comprise the first three sections of the book. In coated papers a white paper is covered with a coating of colored pigment "fixed" with a small amount of white gum, gelatine or glue, and in this way the pure color of the pigment is obtained. In the engine colored papers the color is mixed with the paper pulp in the process of making the paper. In a paper mill the tub or vat in which the pulp is kept stirred up and perfectly mixed is called the engine, and hence this technical term has been applied to such papers as are colored in the pulp. In this class of papers both sides are alike, and for this reason in some of the folding exercises these papers are preferred, also because they are thinner and tougher. Heretofore, it has been impossible to obtain engine colored papers in "families" or scales, but in this assortment the numbers from one to six, furnish six scales of three tones each, comprising the normal tones with tints and shades. Following these from seven to sixteen are a collection of unclassified colors including grays which are much used. All these can be analyzed and classified by the color wheel. Black and white complete this class. It is impossible to make any close approximation to a black in this class of papers, as when they are compared with the coated blacks the result is a very gray black, or very dark gray. All the colors in these papers from No. 1 A to No. 13 are quite light broken spectrum colors, but less broken than the coated papers designated as broken spectrum colors. While great care has been bestowed on the original selection of the colors of all these above-described papers and every effort is constantly exercised to keep them the same from year to year, the subject is materially complicated by the guarantee required of the manufacturers that no arsenic colors shall be used in the preparation of any of the papers. This guarantee is strictly insisted on, because, while the writer has never been able to learn of any authentic case where a child has been injured by the use of plated or glazed papers, he believes that the opinions of parents and teachers should be respected in the matter, although the arsenic colors are often the most permanent and the aniline substitutes which are necessarily used belong to a class which is the most fugitive of all colors.

The line of colored papers now in use is the result of many experiments on the part of the writer and careful tests by experienced teachers for several years, and in its present condition affords but small indication of the time and care which has been expended on it. This has been inevitable, because the peculiar system on which the colors are based has been one of growth and the papers have been designed to afford the necessary material colors for this special scheme of instruction.

In preparing the tints and shades in the papers many experiments have been made to determine the true effect of light and shadow on each normal color, and then to imitate these effects in the papers.

All this is independent of the professional tricks which artists use to heighten their effects, some of which are legitimate, while others may be questionable on sound principles.

It is a common habit with artists to introduce very warm effects into all sunlight by the use of orange or yellow in the warm colors. This extreme tendency has been intentionally avoided in the preparation of these papers, however desirable or allowable it may be considered in heightening effects. So also in the shades as in the tints, the aim has been to keep all the tones of one color in the same scale, even though artists often run the various tones of the same piece of color into two or three analogous scales.

It is the object of color education to train the eye to see color wherever or however it may be produced, either by actual color reflection or contrasted effects, and in order that these effects may be understood as explained under Simultaneous Contrasts it is necessary that the prepared material be truthful to nature, the more so because these effects are sometimes greatly exaggerated by artists.

Water Colors.

When the subject of color was introduced into the curriculum of the common schools of this country, the use of paints was a novelty. So little was known regarding the possibilities of water colors as a means of education, that the teachers may be excused for having had grave doubts about the practicability of the scheme. Very few teachers in the lower grades of schools had received at that time any definite instruction in the harmonies of colors or the manipulation of pigments; and what little thought had been given to the subject was based on the three-color theory of Brewster, which was the only one available at that time.

During the intervening years much has been done to make entirely feasible the introduction into school and kindergarten of this pleasing and educating occupation.

Color standards have been adopted, which are nothing less than selections from the solar spectrum itself, and the manufacture of pigments has improved so much that it may almost be said to be a new industry. In the training of teachers, also, color instruction is now given an important place, so that the kindergartner and primary teacher can give the attention that it deserves to a subject which is so interwoven with all that is beautiful in the material world around us.

Passing from one form of color work to another, it is exceedingly important that children of any grade should find the same principles obtaining in each step of the way, and also that the knowledge gained in the earliest stages of the work should be available in the higher forms. This is particularly true of color instruction as it is now found in the best schools, and the principal reason why water colors are so much better adapted to use in the schools to-day than in former years, is because paints are now made to correspond in color with the standards with which the children have become familiar in the colored papers and other material of the kindergarten.

At present it is generally conceded that these six colors, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet, which stand out so prominently in the solar spectrum, are pre-eminently adapted to serve as standards and as the basis of an alphabet of color. There should, therefore, be no question as to the adoption of these same colors as the palette of paints for the earliest color work, even with the babes in the kindergarten, when anything beyond the colored papers and the usual kindergarten occupations is wanted.

Not very long ago it was the practice to give the child a box of colors and let him paint at random without any definite instruction as to the relation which each color should bear to the others. In fact, with the usual cheap box of paints then in the market there was no decided correlation of the colors nor any educational selection, both of which we have to-day.

Water colors are now furnished which so closely approach the standards of the colored papers that they are of the greatest assistance in developing the æsthetic taste and judgment of the pupils, and it is remarkable how early in the training of children paints can be used with advantage.

In some of the previous pages of this book we have treated of the false theory of Sir David Brewster, who supposed that there were three primary colors in the solar spectrum and that all the other colors were produced by the overlapping or mixing of these in pairs.

This error, being applied to pigments, has worked much harm and has greatly retarded the progress of color study. Even now some teachers recommend the use of the red, yellow and blue palette on the ground of simplicity and economy.

All the recent scientific writers on color treat this three-color scheme as already exploded, because the simplest as well as the most complex experiments with colored light prove its falsity. Nevertheless, the fact that yellow and blue, which with light make very nearly white, do in the mixture of pigments produce a green, has deceived many persons. But the best green that can be so procured is a very broken color and not to be successfully compared with the beautiful and brilliant green of the spectrum. Why then, should we not have in our paints imitations of the solar green, orange and violet as well as the red, yellow and blue? It is not well to sacrifice so much for alleged simplicity, and as for economy, it will take but a moment's reflection to see that it would take no more paint to cover a given surface with six colors than with three.

Oil colors, of course, are out of the question and pastels almost equally so, for although full colors may be produced in both these mediums, they are not suited to the use of young children, and at best are neither neat nor convenient, while colored pencils are not sufficiently satisfactory in results. Therefore water colors seem to be better adapted to primary work than any other pigmentary material.

Of necessity the pupil must later be able to recognize any pigment he may meet and to classify it according to its color value and also to give it a definite name, other than the one by which it is sold.

More than one professional artist has already worked successfully from nature in oil colors with a palette consisting of only close approximations to the six standard colors with white and a few grays. A person whose color perception has been trained by the use of the color disk in six standard colors with colored papers to correspond, will undoubtedly be able to more truthfully reproduce the colors which he sees in nature, on the canvas or paper by means of such a palette than if he had been taught by any other system and used the ordinary pigments.

Color Blindness.

The subject of color blindness has received much attention because of its practical importance in the affairs of our daily lives. The use of colored lights as signals on ships and railroads has necessitated very strict regulations regarding the employment of persons whose color vision is defective, and therefore in some states specialists have been employed by the state authorities to examine from time to time the school children regarding their perception of colors.

Possibly this condition of things may not at present be considered a serious reflection on the methods of color instruction, or lack of such instruction in our schools because it has become so common as to attract little attention. But if it were necessary for the same course to be pursued in any other department of our public education that fact would not fail to occasion very uncomplimentary remarks regarding the methods employed.

For example, if a state official were necessary to determine whether pupils are deaf or not after they have been through our grammar schools, and preliminary to accepting positions of responsibility, it would seem that something was wrong, and yet after a child has had instruction in color according to a logical system there should be no more necessity for an examination regarding his ability to properly distinguish colors than there should regarding his ability to hear.

Color blindness has quite generally been divided into three classes, red, green, and violet blindness, those afflicted with red blindness being most numerous, and the cases of violet blindness being very rare, if indeed there are any which may properly be so called.

This classification, known as the Holmgren system, seems to have been based on the Young-Helmholtz theory that all color perceptions are the result of three primary effects in the eye, namely, red, green and violet, rather than on any analytical classification of actual experiments concerning color blindness.

Color tests should be so arranged as to detect either a defect in the brain which renders it difficult for the pupil to remember the names of the several colors, or in the eye, by which he cannot see a difference between two dissimilar colors.

A person totally color blind would see in the solar spectrum a band of gray in various tones, and hence if a red and a green should seem to be of the same tone of gray he would call both either red or green, and after much experience would come to give color names to various tones of gray.

Such cases, however, are exceedingly rare, if in fact they exist. Other scientists and physiologists have doubted the truth of the claims made by both Holmgren and Helmholtz, and some have made extended experiments regarding color blindness which seem to oppose the Holmgren theory. In view of these conditions it does not seem necessary for a teacher in the elementary grades to attempt to grasp the situation very fully, and much less to aid in the solution of the problem. Very fortunately this is unnecessary, because in all the scientific tests proposed for adults nothing is accomplished which any primary school teacher will not be easily able to determine during the first two or three years of ordinary school work, if the modern system of color instruction is pursued.

There is no better material than colored papers for testing the color perceptions, and the exercises of selecting, matching and arranging the spectrum colors by means of the small color tablets generally in use in the first years of school are the very best that can be devised without regard to any of the abstract theories concerning either the cause or the possible classification of color blindness.

For some reason the most common form of color blindness occasions a confusion between red and green, as for example, we are told, by some people, that in picking wild strawberries in a field the fruit can be distinguished from the leaves and grass only by the shape, and the green fruit from the ripe by the touch or taste.

If a teacher discovers that a child is unable to readily give the name of a color it may not indicate want of color vision, but merely inability to remember names, and therefore various tests which will naturally suggest themselves can be made to aid in reaching a decision on this point. Should the results of the tests seem to indicate some defect in color vision, the nature of the trouble should be sought and memoranda made from time to time for future reference, and if the final result shows a radical lack of color perception the parents should be informed of the fact and a physician consulted.

It is probable that the number of color blind women is very much less than that of men, and much time has been spent in debating the matter, but some doubt remains as to whether this opinion does not obtain because the girls are brought so much more intimately into relation with colored materials in selecting their articles of dress, and consequently come to know the names of colors much better, and in fact enjoy a much better color education than the men. A more correct decision regarding this question can better be reached when both the boys and girls receive a systematic color education and their color sense is more equally cultivated.

Outline of a Course in Color Instruction.

The course of color instruction suggested in the preceding pages is not arbitrarily divided into lessons or even years, because the conditions in the city and rural schools in the various states of this country are so varied that no uniform allotment or division of time can be suggested which will be satisfactory to all.

The number of hours that can be devoted to any subject must be determined by those who prepare the school programme and the progress must be more or less rapid, with instruction correspondingly superficial or complete at each stage, according to the time allowed, the preparation of the teacher and the natural ability of the pupils.

The teaching of color is usually classed with drawing because both relate directly to art, but inasmuch as color enters into our every day experiences so much more largely than the graphic arts there seems to be good reason for teaching it very fully where little attention is given to drawing.

Every competent teacher can and will become expert and even enthusiastic in teaching color, if she fully understands the system which it is the object of the foregoing pages to explain.

The following brief outline suggests the order in which the facts concerning color may be presented and the material which can be used in an elementary course, beginning with the first primary grade pupils, who for the most part have not had kindergarten training.

As a part of the material the Bradley Educational Colored Papers, cut to tablets each 1 x 2 inches, are prepared and put up in four small envelopes which are enclosed in one larger envelope. On the larger envelope these words are printed: "The Bradley Paper Tablets for Primary Color Education, Selections 1, 2, 3, 4 for Complete Course." The four small envelopes are labeled in this way: "Selection No. 1, eighteen pieces from Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales, the Normal Spectrum Colors." "Selection No. 2, forty pieces from Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales, Tint No. 1 and Shades No. 1, with White, Black and Neutral Grays." "Selection No. 3, forty-two pieces comprising complete Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales and Warm, Cool and Green Grays." "Selection No. 4, thirty-six pieces from Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales, Tints No. 2 and Shades No. 2."

The Solar Spectrum.

MATERIAL. A Glass Prism, the cost of which need not exceed a few cents, as almost any lamp or gas pendent in the form of a prism will serve the purpose. By the use of such a prism a small spectrum can be shown on the wall of any schoolroom having a sunny exposure during any part of the day. This spectrum will make plain the fact that sunlight is composed of many colors.

METHOD. Show to the pupils the best solar spectrum that can be produced under the controlling conditions.

Call attention to the six colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, and the order of their arrangement in the spectrum.

Present the colors separately as far as possible, selecting the best conditions available for each one.

Pigmentary Spectrum Colors.

MATERIAL. Neutral gray or white card to cover desk top for a background.

Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales.

Colored Paper Tablets, Selection No. 1, embracing the six standards and the intermediate spectrum hues, eighteen pieces.

Color Wheel or Tops.

METHOD. Ask the pupils to separate the six standards from the twelve spectrum hues. Standards to be arranged in spectrum order.

Teach the names of the standards.

Test natural color perceptions by the attempts of the pupils to lay the spectrum in the eighteen papers.

Explain the intermediate hues by the color disks, and drill with the tablets. Continue the practice of having the pupils lay the entire spectrum with the papers until it is familiar to them.

PRACTICAL OCCUPATIONS. Pasting simple designs in either of the six standard colors, on white or gray background, with ready-cut papers. Marking forms from tablets and cutting and pasting them on backgrounds.

Study of Tones.

MATERIAL. Folding models to show light and shade. Crumpled satins and plushes.

Standard color disks with white and black, on wheel or tops.

Paper tablets, Selection No. 2, Tints No. 1, Shades No. 1, White, Black and Neutral Grays.

METHOD. Ask each pupil to lay spectrum in eighteen normal colors. Lay tints and shades of the six standards.

Have the children complete tints and shades No. 1 of entire spectrum circuit.

Illustrate neutral grays by white in shadow with folding model, also with white and black disks combined.

Begin to classify into families the miscellaneous color material brought by the pupils.

PRACTICAL OCCUPATIONS. Pasting of ready-cut papers in standard and shade on a background of the tint of same scale. Paste designs in three tones of one scale on white or neutral gray background.

Mat weaving in tones of one scale.

Mat weaving in neutral gray and one or two tones of one color.

Broken Colors.

MATERIAL. Disks on wheel or top. Paper tablets, Selection No. 3. Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales.

METHOD. Illustrate broken colors by disk combinations.

Let the pupils lay paper tablets to form Chart of Broken Scales.

Compare this chart with the Chart of Pure Scales laid with the papers.

Classifying of miscellaneous materials with reference to pure and broken colors. Analysis of samples of pure and broken colors in cloths and flowers.

PRACTICAL OCCUPATIONS. Paper cutting and pasting to be continued.

Following the broken colors in three tones which form the Chart of Broken Spectrum Colors, the three kinds of colored grays, warm, cool and green, may be considered preparatory to their use in contrasted effects.

Complete Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales in Five Tones.

MATERIAL. Paper tablets, Selection No. 4. Chart of Spectrum Scales in five tones may be introduced for observation when the children are able to lay it with their papers.

METHOD. Continue the study of tones with pure spectrum scales in five tones, as was done in the first three tones.

From the Chart of Spectrum Scales the study and classification of harmonies can begin in a simple way.

From this time on free-hand paper cutting and pasting may be introduced at pleasure, employing the colored papers in five tones when required.

Advanced Study of Harmonies.