De la loi du Contraste Simultane des couleurs.

1839. CHEVREUL, Michel-Eugène. De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs, et de l'Assortiment des objets colorés. Two volumes. I: xv, [1], 735 pp., illustrated with two folding letterpress tables. II: [2], 2 pp. Illustrated with 40 engraved and lithographic plates on 22 ff., of which 13 folding; plates 2 and 3 printed in colour with fig. 12 on plate 2 hand-coloured; plate 4, the chromatic wheel, with over-slip; plates 5-31 and 34-39 stencil-coloured lithographs; plates 32-33 and 40 engraved; plate 33 hand-coloured; plus nine specimens of printing on different coloured papers; plates 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 33-39 signed by the author. 8vo (text), 215 x 135 mm., bound in later nineteenth-century three-quarter morocco over marbled boards; and square 4to (atlas), 290 x 245 mm., bound in publisher's original printed boards with glassine. Paris: Pitois-Levrault, 1839. A superb copy of the first edition of the most influential treatise on colour from the nineteenth century, with many of the colour plates signed by Chevreul. A professional chemist, Chevreul became Director of Dyeing at the Gobelins royal tapestry manufactory in 1824, in which position he perfected a number of new dyes and was led to a close study of the properties of colour. It was this foundation of empirical observation that permitted him to discern one very simple principle, so widely known today that it is difficult to imagine a time when it was not the fundamental guideline for artists and every kind of graphic designer in their use of colour. Formulated in the present work (p. 14), Chevreul's "law of simultaneous contrast of colours" states that colours seen side by side will always appear to the eye "as dissimilar as possible, both in their optical composition and in the height of their tone." On this basis Chevreul proceeded to analyze the consequences and applications of colour contrast, i.e., the modifications of hue and tone occurring when juxtaposed colours are viewed at the same time. He established "a precise nomenclature for colour relationships: tons for tonal value on a scale from black to white; gamme for the tonal scale itself; nuances for the modifications of one hue by the admixture of another; couleurs franches for pure, saturated pigments; couleurs rabattues (or rompues) for colours broken with black (or grey). These qualities were demonstrated in a colour wheel to which was attached a quadrant…" (Kemp, The Science of Art, pp. 306-7). Chevreul intended his treatise for the use of painters, textile designers, gardeners and other graphic artists rather than for scientists, and the influence of his discoveries on the development of European painting was enormous. The Impressionists followed his precepts for the decomposition of colour tones and the juxtaposition of colours, building up their paintings using separate touches of pure colours on the canvas, and allowing the observer's eye to combine them; and the Neo-Impressionist school, led by Seurat and Signac, went further, seeking to provide a scientific basis for Impressionism by deliberately limiting "their palettes to Chevreul's circle of fundamental colors and intermediate tones and [applying] colors scientifically to their canvases as opposed spots" (Dictionary of Scientific Biography). The influence of Chevreul's theories continued into the twentieth century: several modern colour-field painters, especially Ellsworth Kelly, are known to have experimented with Chevreul's colour theory. In the present copy the plates are in "issue B," with the coloured disks on white or grey backgrounds. Text volume with some foxing as usual, but much better than usually found. Plate volume in exceptional condition. Norman 469. Birren Collection 143. En français dans le texte 237. The Book of Colour Concepts 282.