THE CONTRAST OF COLORS, 



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chromatic compositions for decorative purposes or for paintings, artists 

 of all times have necessarily been controlled to a considerable extent 

 by the laws of contrast, which they have instinctively obeyed, just as 

 children in walking and leaping obey the law of gravitation, though 

 hardly conscious of its existence. 



The phenomena of contrast as exhibited by colors which are intense, 

 pure, and brilliant, are to be explained to a considerable extent by the 

 fatigue of the nerves, as set forth in the early part of the present chap- 

 ter. The changes in color and saturation become particularly con- 

 spicuous after somewhat prolonged observation, and are often attended 

 with a peculiar soft glimmering, which seems to float over the surfaces, 

 and, in the case of colors that are far apart in the chromatic circle, to 

 lend them a lustrous appearance. Still, upon the whole, the eflPects of 

 contrast with brilliant colors are often not strongly marked at first 

 glance, from the circumstance that the colors, by virtue of their actual 

 intensity and strength, are able to resist these changes, and it often 

 requires a practised eye to detect them with certainty. The case is 

 quite otherwise with colors which are more or less pale or dark — that 

 is, which are deficient in saturation, or luminosity, or both. Here the 

 original sensation produced upon the eye is comparatively feeble, and 

 it is hence more readily modified by contrast. In these cases the 

 fatigue of the nerves of the retina plays but a very subordinate part, as 

 we recognize the effects of contrast at the first glance. We have to 



Fia. 13.— Shadow of Rod in a Darkened Rooji. 



deal here with what is known as simultaneous contrast, the effects tak- 

 ing place when the two surfaces are, as far as possible, regarded simul- 

 taneousl3^ In the case of simultaneous contrast, the changes are due 

 mainly to fluctuations of the judgment of the observer, but little to the 

 fatigue of the retinal nerves. We carry in ourselves no standard by 



