NATURE COLOR
“And you, painter, who are desirous of great practice, understand that
if you do not rest it on the good foundation of Nature, you will labor
with little honor and less profit; and if you do it on a good ground,
your works will be many and good, to your great honor and advantage.
“A painter ought to study universal Nature, and reason much within
himself on all he sees, making use of the most excellent parts that
compose the species of every object before him. His mind will by this
method be like a mirror, reflecting truly every object placed before it,
and become, as it were, a second nature.”
From the _Treatise on Painting_, by Leonardo da Vinci, we copy the above
passages. May they serve as an introduction to the next branch of our
color study, and prove a stimulus of the highest kind not only to
painters, but to other artists. This final step in our study leads us to
Nature, a step easy to make, but once made, it places us in a school as
vast as it is great, and in one which we should never leave. Until our
attention is called to it, we are unconscious what apparently
unpromising material may yield new and beautiful motives for
color-harmonies.
“We do not sufficiently study from nature; we ought to draw and study
vegetable forms, shells, fishes, birds, beasts. A continual use of your
notebook should enable you to lay up an inexhaustible store of artistic
materials and suggestions.... Then, again, the study of the arrangement
of color of natural objects is almost entirely ignored; yet how pregnant
would it be with the most valuable and original suggestions. There is
hardly anything in nature that is not perfect in color. A dead sparrow
would enable you to arrange the marquetrie of a cabinet with faultless
harmony. Then, again, the varied tints of any color in light, shade, and
half tint are always harmonious. The gradations of color in a flower, if
properly studied, would teach a lady to dress with a taste that would be
the envy of her sex. That dress is not, more than it is, the study and
recognized province of an artist, is a matter of wonder.”[12]
Following closely upon this advice of Mr. Moody, an artist tells us that
in Algiers he has seen the Arab girls working the beautiful embroideries
so much admired with boxes of butterflies beside them, that from their
harmonious blending of colors they may gain fresh enthusiasm and
inspiration for their work. Those who are not privileged to go to
foreign lands in search of color motives can find them in our own
country, and those who can leave the city’s walls for but a day’s
holiday may find in the suburbs much that is new and helpful. Why not
make excursions for the purpose? A color hunt would surely be as cheap
and harmless as it would be enjoyable and helpful. In New York City
itself, the Museum of Natural History holds case upon case of birds,
butterflies, shells, and minerals that can give an infinite number of
novel motives, the florists’ shops contain many more, and, if one keeps
his eyes about him, even in the street he may meet with good and
unexpected combinations, as, for instance, Plate C, which is from the
flange of a propeller, of which the discoloration of the metal gave a
fine color motive.
The Japanese have always been distinguished for their intense sympathy
with nature, and we find that a large part of the enjoyment of their
lives the year round comes from their constant study and observation of
nature, the result, of course, showing itself in their art.
Condor says, in _The Flowers of Japan_, “Flower-viewing excursions,
together with such pastimes as shell-gathering, mushroom-picking, and
moon-viewing, form the favorite occupations of the holiday seeker
throughout the year,” and “Snow-viewing is included as one of the flower
festivals of the year.”
One caution must be given to those looking to nature for color motives,
which is this: to make allowance for the modifications of form,
contrast, composition, gradation, and atmosphere which may deceive us as
to the true color of our object. It can be more truly judged by being
looked at through a card with an opening in it, which thus isolates it
from the adjoining colors. “We should be cautious in basing our
conclusions even on observations made directly from nature itself; for
here our judgment is liable to be warped by the presence of beautiful
form, good composition, exquisite gradation, and high luminosity.”[13] A
few plates made directly from nature are given, not for the sake of the
imitation, but to suggest some of the many directions in which to look
for fresh inspiration in color-designing.
Students in art and science are constantly bidden to go to nature for
the abundant secrets she is ready to reveal to those who seek and prize
them, and why should not workers in simpler, if not lower, occupations,
be sent to the same source, which is so bountiful as to contain
something for every one, and so, profiting by her fulness, learn at the
same time to find contentment and joy in their work?