THE CONTRAST OF COLORS. 



side in contact, as shown in Fig. 9, duplicate strips being arranged in 

 the field of view at some distance from each other. The tints of the 

 two central strips were both altered ; those placed at a greater distance 

 apart suffered no change. In the experiment represented in Fig. 9, 

 the central ultramarine by contrast is made to appear more violet, the 

 central cyan-blue more greenish ; the color of the outlying strips is 

 scarcely affected. 



As it requires a little consideration to predict the changes which 

 colors undergo through contrast, we give below a table containing the 

 most important cases : 



Pairs of Color?. Change due to Contrast. 



S Red becomes more purplish. 



( Orange " 



Red.... 

 Yellow. 



Red. 



Blue-greeu . 



5 Red.. 

 I Blue. 



Red... 

 Violet. 





range . 

 Yellow. 



Orange . 

 Green . . 



^ Orange.. . 

 ( Cyan-blue . 



" yellowish. 



" purplish. 



" greenish. 



" brilliant. 



a u 



" orange-red. 



" greenish. 



" orange-red. 



" bluish. 



" red-orange. 

 " greenish-yellow. 



" red-orange. 



" bluish-green. 



" brilliant. 



Pairs of Colors. Change due to Contrast. 



j Orange becomes more yellowish. 



" bluish. 



i Violet 



j Yellow. 

 ( Green . 



( Yellow . . . 

 ( Cyan-blue. 



I 



Yellow 



Ultramariue-blue 



\ Green , 

 l Blue.. 



(Gr 

 1 Vi 



reen . 

 olet. 



^ Greenish-yellow. 

 < Violet 



orange-yellow, 

 bluish-green. 



orange-yellow, 

 blue. 



brilliant. 



yellowish-green, 

 purplish. 



yellowish-green, 

 purplish. 



brilliant. 



Blue . . 

 Violet. 





greenish, 

 purplish. 



It is easy and instructive to study the changes produced by contrast 

 with the aid of a chromatic circle (Fig. 10), and it will be found that 

 alterations in color produced by con- 

 trast obey a very simple law: when 

 any two colors of the chromatic cir- 

 .cle are brought into competition or 

 contrasted, the effect produced is, ap- 

 parently, to move them both farther 

 apart. In the case, for example, of 

 orange and yellow, the orange is 

 moved toward the red, and assumes 

 the appearance of reddish-orange ; 

 the yellow moves toward the green, 

 and appears for the time to be green- 

 ish-yellow. Colors which are comple- 

 mentary are already as far apart in 

 the chromatic circle as possible, hence 



they are not changed in hue, but merely appear more brilliant and sat- 

 urated. This is indeed the effect which a strict application of our rule 



Fig. 10.— Chromatic Circle. 



