Colorist

[Julie Deane]

I'll give it a shot. A "colorist" is a person who relies more on color for expression than on, for instance, line or value changes. I usually think of a person as a colorist if they seek out brighter colors or more interesting color combinations: it seems to my eye that they delight in the intrigue of color.

[Sharon Knettell]

Originally Posted by Julie Deane

I'll give it a shot. A "colorist" is a person who relies more on color for expression than on, for instance, line or value changes. I usually think of a person as a colorist if they seek out brighter colors or more interesting color combinations: it seems to my eye that they delight in the intrigue of color.

Color can be high key, low key, saturated and flat.

Linda Ciaello posted a perfect example of a painting tho' grey - actually grey-green, it works a color harmony by the small touch of the pink flower-it's complement.

High key
Low key
Flat
Saturated

[Steve Craighead]

It seems to me there are 2 or 3 themes running through this thread.
One theme is line vs. color.
Did you know that that discussion has been going on for hundreds of years? According to Gardner's Art Through the Ages, there were "Poussinistes" and "Rubenistes". The Poussinistes were "conservative defenders of academicsm, who held that drawing was superior to color, against Rubinistes, who proclaimed that color was not only more important to a painting than drawing, but that it had wider appeal than the more intellectual, and thus restrictive, quality of line."
Delacroix, the colorist, and Ingres, the draftsman, took up the controversy in the 19th century. Here's a cartoon of Delacroix and Ingres jousting with paint brush and pencil in hand.

[Sharon Knettell]

Steve,

I agree. The original thread was a discussion of what a colorist is. If you din't mind I will now prune this thread so it makes some sense.

[Laurel Alanna McBrine]

Originally Posted by Steve Craighead:

I think of Henry Hensche as a colorist. In fact, he called himself a colorist as opposed to being a "value painter". He said every form change is a color change. In other words, form is created on the canvas not by lightening or darkening color by adding white or black, but instead by painting the distinct and unique color that describes the form.

Originally Posted by Sharon Knettell:

This definition and artist nails it for me. Thank-you Steve for that wonderful post.

Sharon, it is nice to "meet" you. I had the pleasure of viewing one of your paintings in a gallery in Boston when attending the PSA conference a few years ago - a gorgeous, large pastel of a ballerina in red, hung behind plexiglas. It was gorgeous, quite high chroma, if I recall correctly , and a skillful colorist work.

With regard to my post and the above quote, I think we are actually in agreement. I also really like Mr. Craighead's succint description of what a "colorist" is. This is what I was attempting to do on that beach in Provincetown. I am certainly not holding out the studies I posted as examples of great paintings. Far from it - they were merely rough records of figures in late afternoon sunshine, morning sunshine, a cloudy morning and midday bright sun respectively. The goal was learning to see the color spots and relationships between the colors. Students of the former Cape Cod School of Art use the term "colorist" to describe their approach and I was using the term in that context. Maybe your definition does not agree with theirs. With regard to high chroma, I know some painters (one of my teachers, in particular) who do not like the work of the Impressionists, which was largely done out of doors, because of the bright colors they used as opposed to the more subdued, low chroma, indoor paintings of the old masters. I don't think I mentioned anything about form in my post, so I don't think we have an argument there. However, without light there is no color, so I respectfully submit that light has a lot to do with being a colorist. If I went beyond the parameters for this thread, I apologize. Going back into the woodwork now!

[Chris Saper]

Laurel,
Do not even DARE go back to the woodwork It's a pleasure to have you here.

[Sharon Knettell]

Originally Posted by Chris Saper

Laurel,
Do not even DARE go back to the woodwork It's a pleasure to have you here.

Oh good heavens! Double Ditto!

What comments -refreshing and a totally welcome addition to this thread!

Of course it does not hurt that you like my painting!

Laurel, of course light has everything to do with color in western art. It makes form. However in eastern art it was not necessary as the pictorial plane was flat and the color arrangements had more to do with color harmonies-ie complementary color etc.

The impressionists were highly influenced by the arrival in Europe of the art of Japan and China . They began to experiment with flattening out their art, relying more on color than on form until form was replaces entirely by color, especially with Klimt and Redon. Finally color eclipsed form entirely with abstract art.

Here are two examples of the use of complementary color arrangements.

Benson: Red Orange and Blue Green.
A Japanese scroll, Kubo Shunman, 1757-1820, Edo period : Blue and Orange.