Chromosphere: The Color Theory Podcast

Discussion of the work of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and her book, Color Problems: A Practical Manual for the Lay Student of Color, of 1903. Discussion centers on where I see her concepts in relation to those of Johannes Itten and Josef Albers.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Discussion of additive spectral color mixing and how our perception of purple may be the result of our minds experiencing a negative green. Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Discussion of how afterimages occur when the cones of the retina tire and weaken due to overstimulation, allowing other cones to briefly play a more dominant role in vision, and how that lead to the establishment of complementary colors.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Discussion of Arthur Schopenhauer and Phillip Otto Runge's ideas about color vision and color harmonies, and how they may have impacted the teaching of color theory at the Bauhaus art school, in Germany in the early 20th Century.  Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Discussion of the speed of light, polarization, glare, mirages, and what any of that has to do with Michelangelo. (See cangiantismo and shot silk.)Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Discussion of how our perception of blues and greens remain strong in low light, and how that may have impacted the use of lapis lazuli (and other blue pigments) prior to the invention of the electric light bulb.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Why did Homer repeatedly describe the color of the ocean as wine-dark in the Iliad and the Odyssey? Could the sky have been purple or violet in the days when Helen and Achilles lived in mythological Ancient Greece? Discussion will focus on the possible ways in which the ocean could have been similar in color to that of a nice Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir wine.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

In Zur Farbenlehre  (A Theory of Colours, or, A Doctrine of Colours) of 1810, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe worked to dismiss Newton’s findings of the nature of spectral light and sought a return to Aristotelian views of color. Why no love for Newton? This episode reviews Goethe's theories and how he introduced psychology to the understanding of human color perception.“A great mathematician [Newton] was possessed with an entirely false notion on the physical origin of colour….” - Excerpt from A Theory of Colours.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Also known as vibrating colors or scintillating colors. Discussion of the chromostereopsis effect will explore how colors are perceived in 3-dimensional space, even when located on a 2-dimensional picture plane; how reds advance and blues recede. Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Given the properties of color (hue, value & chroma), do value contrasts  work to form the most effective focal points? This question is addressed in relation to color vision's adaptability to view contrasts in hue and chroma over those of value and brightness. Also, could our vision as babies affect how we perceive value contrasts today?  Send us Fan MailSupport the show