A short-form series on the color wheels you've never heard of, and why they were built. Each episode covers one wheel: what problem it was solving, who made it, and what it gets right or wrong. New episodes every Wednesday.
Curated by: Color Nerd (18 videos)
Johannes Itten's "harmonious proportion" color wheel isn't his creation... and it isn't Goethe's either. So who's is it? This week I'm talking about a well-known color diagram to trace its lineage back through 150 years and four other people, most of whom Itten never credited. If you've followed my content for a while, you know I have a strong dislike for Itten. I consider his ideas confusing, unhelpful, and backward -- more like dogma than practical color advice. But this week, we'll focus on why he's also a hack and a thief. And why we should remember the color theorist he stole a color wheel from: Carry van Biema. She deserves a place in color theory history, and Itten's failure to cite her work contributed to her erasure. Recently, she has received more attention from scholars. For example, Alexandra Loske has done much to bring attention to van Biema, and, with co-author Sarah Lowengard, dedicated a well-illustrated chapter to van Biema in "The Book of Colour Concepts" (2024). The point of my video is that, before we lionize Itten as a "king" of color theory, we should know the history. He knew van Biema's work. He had every opportunity to acknowledge her voice in the ongoing conversation that led to his book "The Art of Color." but he chose not to. If you've got a color wheel you'd like me to cover, drop it in the comments. New Color Wheel Wednesday every week! --- Bibliography Johannes Itten. The Art of Color, 1961. ---, The Elements of Color. Ed. Faber Birren, 1970. Carry van Biema. Farben und Formen als lebendige Kräfte, 1930. Guido Schreiber. Die Farbenlehre,1868. Arthur Schopenhauer. Über das Sehn und die Farben, 1816. Title page image from an abebooks.com listing. Adolf Hölzel. color diagrams, prepared by his student Emmy Wollner c. 1915. As reprinted in Ulrich Röthke, "Die Farbe ist das Complicierteste…: Hölzels Farbenlehre im Kontext seines Kunstunterrichts," Kunstgeschichte, 2011. --- Photo of van Biema's Stolperstein by Christian Michelides --- #arthistory #colorwheel #colortheory