Johannes Itten, famed early 20th century master of colour theory at the Bauhaus, revelled in colour contrasts, especially simultaneous contrast. He shares his profound insights on colour in the amazing work, The Elements of Colour, where his discourse on colour expression seems to define all the violets in the Vasari palette perfectly, whether warm or cool, historic or modern. In terms of colour and form, Itten assigns the shape of the ellipse to violet, and instructs how violet can be dark and unknowing or communicate deep reverence and devotion.
The genuine Cobalt Violet Pale from Vasari, that they carefully handcraft to retain its radiance in a tint or glaze, is still too weak in colour strength to be effective in mixtures, and, yet, like Itten’s ellipse, it deliberately hides its power only to resurface in a whisper of pink. Shown here at the bottom right edge in the mixing demo with Vasari King’s Blue, it takes a fair amount of Cobalt Violet Pale to add a glimmer of beauty and nuance to the right half of the mixture.
Hard to define but also highly valued for its glowing, deep mass tone, the genuine Cobalt Violet Deep is at once bright and natural, rich yet delicate, warm yet cool. Pictured twice with the Ultramarine Violet, it enhances a mixture gently but distinctly, first with just white and then with the palest yellow.
Further proving Itten’s theories, the Ultramarine Violet is both deep and hushed in its mass tone, mixing transparently but also darkly, to quiet colour and intensity. Exhibiting greater mixing strength into the Vasari King’s Blue, compared with the paler Cobalt Violet, the Ultramarine Violet, in the top left side of the same image, has also taken away some of the blue’s brightness.
Shown again at the top left corner of a different mixing demo, in comparison with Cobalt Violet Deep, the Ultramarine Violet gently grays down the Brilliant Yellow Extra Pale, this time creating a complementary gray, and shows itself to be less strong and cooler than the richer more colourful Cobalt.
Thank you for the text to Gail Spiegel and Stephen Salek at Vasari Classic Artists’ Oil Colors.
Click on the underlined links to go to the Vasari paints on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.
