ICD 2022: Itten’s Seven Colour Contrasts - a Critical Review (Robert Hirschler with Andreas Schwarz)

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The Colour Society of Australia Inc.

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Itten’s contrast theory is a fundamental part of his teaching. His seven contrasts are known, described and taught in many parts of the world, yet they are not without problems and contradictions. With his theory of colour contrasts, Itten made a contribution to cultural history that should not be underestimated and that remains as a fact. However, for the understanding of a differentiated use of colour, be it receptive or productive, be it in the field of design, fine arts or even school, the seven colour contrasts do not come close to meeting today's level of knowledge and didactic requirements. We shall describe examples with not only perceptual but, in some important cases, also physical and psychometric characterization; and shall discuss the pros and cons of making students learn and make use of the seven contrasts.
Robert Hirschler has been actively involved in all aspects of color theory, color science and color technology since 1966. Robert graduated at the Technical University of Budapest in chemical engineering/textile chemistry. In 1967 he presented his first paper on computerized color matching and has been involved in colorimetry and color science ever since. He has been involved in AIC activities for over 40 years. He is an active member of both ProCor (Brazil) and the Hungarian National Color Committee and a member of the AIC Executive Committee. Since 2010 he has been the Chair of the Study Group on Color Education. His current research interest is the teaching of the basics of color science to architects, artists and designers as explained in his recent article How much color science is not too much? published in the journal Color Research and Application.
Robert’s co-author on the CLP committee Andreas Schwarz teaches Art and English at Staedtisches Maedchengymnasium in Essen Germany and is lecturer of Art education at University Duisburg-Essen. His interest in color was awakened by the numerous historical and current color diagrams and color sample collections, which he scientifically processed. This initially resulted in his PhD thesis Die Lehren von der Farbenharmonie (The Doctrines of Color Harmony) in 1999. His thesis was later followed by the publication of the outstanding monograph Color Ordered: A Survey of Color Systems from Antiquity to the Present in 2008 co-authored with Rolf G. Kuehni. Since then, his scientific focus has shifted to the use of color in art teaching, which culminated in a government-sponsored five-year research project. The results of his research, which for the first time shows the effects of imparting an outdated color theory on the behavior of students and teachers, was published in 2018 under the title Farbtheorie im Kunstunterricht - Eine qualitativ empirische Wirkungsforschung zum Umgang mit Farb; (Color Theory in Art Classes - A qualitative empirical research into the use of color).
From our CSA International Colour Day 2022 event: Progress in Colour Education. Online, Sunday March 20, 10.00 AM - 12.30 PM AEDT.
Six members of the ISCC/AIC Colour Literacy Project from around the world spoke on different aspects of colour education. Robert Hirschler (Hungary) presented a review co-authored with Andreas Schwarz (Germany) of the seven "contrasts" of Johannes Itten, David Briggs (NSW) illustrated alternative frameworks for visualizing colour relationships for painters, and Robin Kingsburgh (Canada) described her remarkable multidisciplinary colour course at York University. These presentations were followed by two short reports, one by Paul Green-Armytage (WA) on two related workshops conducted with Sean Adamas, and the second by Maggie Maggio and Luanne Stovall (USA) giving an update on recent activities of the Colour Literacy Project.