Scenery, all six of the primary colors, according to da Vinci, are used; white, black, red, yellow, green, and blue.
(Lester, 2006) “Leonardo da Vinci proposed that there were six primary colors and showed that by mixing those six colors in the form of paints in varying degrees, all the other colors capable of being seen by a normal human eye could be created.” (Lester, 2006) You can see that Cole mixed the colors within in themselves to create the different variations of the colors. The human eye is able to see color because of never fibers in the retina and explains how it physically sees color; the theory is known as the Young-Helmholtz theory. (Lester, 2006) Color can be defined into three methods, objective method, comparative method, and subjective method. Objective method is described by accurate measurements of the color’s wavelength and unique temperature. (Lester, 2006) Blues and greens, which are the majority of the colors within
Genesee Scenery, have a hotter temperature on the scale and a shorter wavelength (Lester, 2006), that is why we do not notice the color variations at first glance. “The second technique for describing colors is less accurate than the objective method, but more useful” (Lester, 2006). The comparative method is used to describe different variations of color and selecting a name for them, but can “only be used to give a rough estimate of what a color might look like” (Lester, 2006).
The third method is subjective method; this is the most symbolic method. When I look at Genesee Scenery I don’t just see what is in the painting, I see freedom and beauty within the beauty and I believe Cole did as well. Form is made up of lines, dots, and shapes. Most of Genesee Scenery is shapes to make up the painting, but when you study it closely you can see that lines and dots are also noticeable. Most of the lines in the painting are curved, “curved lines covey a mood of playfulness, suppleness, and movement” (Lester, 2006). Within the waterfall there are many curved lines showing the gracefulness of the water flowing, the trees leaves show that the leaves are moving in the wind, while the clouds are doing the same. The depth of the painting is made up of eight clues: space, size, color, lighting, textural gradients, interposition, time, and perspective. (Lester, 2006) In a nature scene like Genesee Scenery, “the illusion of space depends on how close you are to a subject” (Lester, 2006). At first glance, you do not realize that the leaves and cliff on the bottom right of the painting is closer to you, and the rest of the painting is in the distance, this is a great use of space within the frame. The size of the painting, I believe is prefect, you can see both the foreground and the background, there aren’t any questions left in your mind on if there is something missing from the frame. Lester explains that size is closely related to our ability to determine an object’s distance. Distance is related to space and helps in our perception of depth. Color as referenced above, can communicate depth (Lester, 2006); darker colors show that things can be further away, and vice versa. Color mixed with light accents can show that a light source is shining, making shadows. You can see this when you look at the rock cliffs, the cliff on the right side is darker than the one on the left because of the way the sun is shining, creating depth in the form of light. Textural gradients are seen in the waterfall, showing the ripples in the moving water and interposition is not seen within the painting. Time, another depth clue, “refers to a viewer’s attention to a particular element within an image” (Lester, 2006). In Genesee Scenery, it looks to me that it is either sun rise or sunset, by the lighting on the cliffs. And the last clue of depth is perspective. Perspective is the most complex clue because “it is equal parts brain function and learned behavior” (Lester, 2006). The last visual cue is movement. As Lester states, “color form, and depth join movement to constitute the principal qualities of images that make the cells in the visual cortex respond quickly to a stimulus.” As stated above, the waterfall shows movement with the form it is taking and the color helps with this movement as well. The movement within Genesee Scenery is implied movement. Implied movement is motion that a viewer sees in a still, single image without any actual movement of an object, image, or eye. (Lester, 2006) Thomas Cole’s Genesee Scenery shows all four of the visual cues: color, form, depth, and movement. Cole shows, in his own way, how these cues are portrayed in Genesee Scenery in the sky, cliffs, waterfall, and leaves. Without the ability of the eye, I would not have noticed all the cues in the painting, and I would not be able to appreciate it.
References
Dictionary.com (April 20, 2014) Retrieved from www.dictionary.com
Lester, P. (2006). Visual Communication, Sixth Edition. Boston, MA: Rosenburg.
Thomas Cole: The Complete Works. (April 20, 2014). Retrieved from www.thomas-cole.info