Johannes Itten (1888-1967) was an expressionist painter and teacher associated with the Bauhaus school
He sought to extend on the colour wheel created by Adolf Hölzell. Itten eventually created the color sphere, which included 12 colors.
Farbrekis colour wheel
He created a series of theories about colour contrast which we looked at in the colour theory workshops:
According to Itten, there are 7 types of contrast:
1. Contrast of Hue
2. Light-Dark Contrast
3. Cold-Warm Contrast
4. Complementary Contrast
5. Simultaneous Contrast
6. Contrast of Saturation
7. Contrast of Extension
Contrast of Hue is the change that occurs when a colour is surrounded by white or black borders. White deminishes the strength of a colour and makes it appear darker. Black increases the strength of a colour and makes it appear lighter
Light-dark contrast describes the perception of difference between light colour values and dark colour values
Cold-warm contrast describes the difference between warm colours (Red, orange, yellow) and cold colours (gren, blue and purple).
Complementary contrast describes the juxtaposition of colours are those which are opposite to each other on the colour wheel.
Simultaneous contrast describes the juxtaposition of colours that at nearly complementary i.e. a colour and the colour next to its opposite on the colour wheel.
Contrast of Saturation describes the perception of difference between dull colours and intense colours. Dull colours appear to be duller when seen with intense colors, and pure intense colours can seem move vivid when seen with a dull color.
Contrast of Extension
Different amounts of one color are needed to blance another. The contrast of extension is used to refer to contrast between the proportion of one area of color to another.
