Arnheim’s frequent interludes of awe and reverence for the perception of colors, while maintaining a work of systematic merit, demands a constant appraisal of the parts to the whole. However, there is hint of humanity about his work and while the constructs of color theory supply the necessary beams, I cannot help but sense that these beams are supporting an abstract of humanity.
Arnheim is fully aware of the difficulties of color perception- “most of the time the viewer cannot judge how much truth or a lie is being told (344).” But while he acknowledges that the world has material and life and spirit, Arnheim is acutely aware that each realm has a parallel form to the other. Color perception is not simply the product of inner dynamic fields, but instead contains tensions, balance and momentum just as it contains the static structural relations. We learn that the “identity of color does not reside in the color itself but is established by relation (362)”and further on,“ the web of interacting colors is created only by the eye, and this subjectivity—quite different than the sturdy objectivity of shapes—gives them the quality of apparitions.” I think it is quite fascinating how colors are so temperamental and how they are at once subjective and objective. I am reminded of Cezanne’s portraits and how the subjects quiver and vibrate simply in response to an outlining of blue. And while there may seem to be a discordant part, Arnheim reminds us that “ The traditional theory of color harmony deals only with obtaining connections and avoiding separations, and is therefore at best incomplete (350)” It is more than creating a unified whole; it is giving adequate shape to an intended content.
From Mr. I’s paintings post-accident, we discover that although Mr. I used known colors that theoretically and categorically worked together, the after effect was confusing to viewers who had normal color perception and even became a hesitant source for him. Despite the subsystems, the categories, the ordering of color, the resonance of color is profound. Mr. I found that color perception did not only affect his visual perception, but his “aesthetic sense, his sensibility, his creative identity…and now color was gone, not only perception, but in imagination and memory as well (35).” Mr. Nordby, a colorblind case prior to Mr. I, writes, “Although I have acquired a thorough theoretical knowledge of the physics of colours and the physiology of the colour receptor mechanims, nothing of this can help me to understand the true nature of colours (36).” The perception of color is profound in its ability to affect emotion and aesthetic sense. I think it fitting to close with Geothe, “Optical illusion is optical truth.”
I first read the Colorblind Painter piece in Elizabeth's class last year, Narrative Neuropsychology. We talked a lot about how Mr. I's visual changes affected his identity as a painter, but now I see this Sacks article as exploring color much more. The disturbances he suffers after his injuries are incomprehensible to someone with color vision, yet after searching through images and turning them to grayscale for the equiluminance exercise I find myself more able to relate to his condition. I realized, for the first time, how fully integral our color perception is to our visual life, and how, stripped of color, the world loses a vital (I mean that in the sense of "living") element.
ReplyDeleteI was also struck by the Goethe quote--after all, what is truth but a sustained illusion? Especially in terms of our senses...