Colorist

[Debra G DeRouen]

can anyone give a definition of a person called a 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!

[Sharon Knettell]

Originally Posted by Debra G DeRouen

can anyone give a definition of a person called a colorist

Here is a definition for the word COLORIST.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorist

[Julie Deane]

I think this part of the wikipedia definition would apply to portraiture:
"The term is also used to describe a painter using strong color skillfully in realistic or impressionist paintings."

I think of Sharon as a colorist.

[Steve Craighead]

"Colorist" is a pretty broad term. I suppose in its broadest sense it could include anyone who is not painting monochromatically. Often those painters who use paint directly from the tube and avoid the duller earth colors like raw umber etc. are called colorist.
Many would say someone like Wolf Kahn is a colorist. However, I find his color a bit too arbituary and nonsensical.
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 desibes the form.
Some of his former students have set up a website in his honor if you would like to investigate him further. http://www.thehenschefoundation.org/

Steve

[Marvin Mattelson]

I think there are two kinds of colorists. Those who profess to eschew all for the sake of color and those whose strive to capture the pure and subtle essence of color in it's proper context.

In his book, "Jan Vermeer of Delft," Philip L. Hale states the following:
"The moment a man searches one quality for itself alone, he does, by that very act strip it of it's most important attributes. We too often forget that all things are made manifest to us through the action of light. 'Light and Shade' cannot truly be rendered unless it includes colour and form. Form as it appears to us cannot be rightly indicated without the aid of colour and of chiaroscuro. Colour, true colour, cannot be well suggested unless the shapes are right and the modulation: in other words, the drawing and values."

Interestingly, William McGregor Paxton was heavily involved in the writing of this book, which is actually the manifesto of the Boston School. Anyone who who has had the opportunity to see an original work by Paxton has seen the hand-print of a truly great colorist.