Teoria De Los Colores Goethe Libro Pdf

En este artculo se plantea un hilo conductor bsico entre la Teora de los Colores, de Goethe y la Interaccin del color, de Albers. Para Goethe, el color tena un efecto sensible-moral y poda ser puesto al servicio de los ms elevados fines estticos, como ms tarde ejemplific magistralmente Albers en su serie Homenaje al cuadrado, de una forma que se ha definido como medios mnimo, efecto mximo, en su ltima y ms completa exposicin retrospectiva. La vertiente acadmica de Albers llega a su mxima expresin en la obra citada, cuya evolucin de lo analgico a lo digital seguramente supondr una nueva difusin, lastrada hasta ahora por lo limitado de las versiones de bolsillo y lo inalcanzable de las versiones completas impresas 1.

Palabras clave: Goethe. schoPenhauer. albers. teora de los colores. InteraccIn del color. analGIco versus dIGItal

In this article a basic common thread is drawn between Goethes Theory of Colours and Albers Interaction of colour. For Goethe, colour had a sensual-moral effect and could be used for the highest aesthetic purposes. This was later brilliantly exemplified by Albers in his series Homage to the Square, in a way that has been defined in his latest and most complete retrospective as minimal means, maximum effects. The academic side of Albers reaches its highest expression in the aforementioned work, whose evolution from analogue to digital format will surely lead to a new wider circulation, hitherto hampered by the limited paperback versions and the unattainable nature of the full printed versions 1.

Keywords: Goethe. schopenhauer. albers. theory of colours. InteractIon of colour. analoGue versus dIGItal

de la teora de los colores de Goethe a la InteraccIn del color de albers

From Goethes Theory of Colours to Albers InTeraCTIon of Colour

Jos Antonio Franco Taboada

doi: 10.4995/ega.2015.3703

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expresin grfica arquitectnica

de la teora de los colores de Goethe a la InteraccIn del color de albers

From Goethes Theory of Colours to Albers InTeraCTIon of Colour

Jos Antonio Franco Taboada

doi: 10.4995/ega.2015.3703

Cuando Goethe escribe en el prefacio de su Teora de los Colores Si bien los colores y la luz guardan entre s relaciones exactsimas, tanto aquellos como sta pertenecen en un todo a la naturaleza; pues a travs de ellos la Naturaleza quiere manifestarse par-ticularmente al sentido de la vista (Goethe [1810] 1945, 11). Sus pa-labras parecen adelantar de alguna manera la obra de Josef Albers. Este conoca muy bien la de Goethe y so-bre todo debi tomar buena nota del apartado de su captulo sexto, El efec-to sensible-moral del color, Miedo a la teora, en el que sealaba:

Los pintores han evidenciado hasta aho-ra un miedo y hasta una franca aversin a todas las consideraciones tericas acer-ca del color y de todo cuanto se relaciona con l, actitud sta que ciertamente era comprensible, pues lo que hasta ahora se llamaba la teora careca de base, era fluctuante y gravitaba hacia la empiria. Deseamos que nuestros esfuerzos logren desvanecer hasta cierto punto este miedo y estimular a los artistas a verificar y am-pliar en la prctica los principios consig-nados (Goethe [1810] 1945, 231).

Est claro que Albers no solo llev a la prctica los principios de Goethe adems de los de su maestro Johannes Itten 3 sino que formul los suyos pro-pios, recogidos esencialmente en su mo-numental obra Interaccin del color.

Albers, como Goethe, daba una gran importancia a la experimenta-cin con el color, no solo como fuente de su propia obra creativa sino como medio esencial para el aprendizaje de sus alumnos, como aseguraba tajan-temente: En resumen, creemos en el aprendizaje por medio de la expe-riencia, que de manera natural es ms

When Goethe writes in the preface to his Theory of Colours Colours and light, it is true, stand in the most intimate relation to each other, but we should think of both as belonging to nature as a whole, for it is nature as a whole which manifests itself by their means in an especial manner to the sense of sight (Goethe [1810] 1945, 11). His words seem somehow to anticipate the work of Josef Albers, who was well aware of Goethe and must have taken particular note of the section of chapter six, The sensual-moral effect of colour, Dread of theory, in which he stated:

A dread of, nay, a decided aversion for all theoretical views respecting colour and everything belonging to it, has been hitherto found to exist among painters; a prejudice for which, after all, they were not to be blamed; for what has been hitherto called theory was groundless, vacillating, and akin to empiricism. We hope that our labours may tend to diminish this prejudice, and stimulate the artist practically to prove and embody the principles that have been explained (Goethe [1810] 1945, 231).

It is clear that Albers not only put into practice the principles of Goethe, besides those of his teacher Johannes Itten 3, but also arrived at his own, collected essentially in his monumental work Interaction of colour.Albers, like Goethe, attached great importance to experimenting with colour, not only as a source of his own creative work but as an essential means for the learning of his students, as he emphatically asserted: In short, we believe in learning through experience, which naturally is more durable than anything you learn only by reading or listening (Albers 2014, 291) 4. These were his first steps as a teacher in the Bauhaus of Weimar, Dessau and Berlin and this approach continued through to his final position as a professor at the University of Yale, where he was appointed Doctor honoris causa of Fine Arts, not forgetting his time at the small and complicated, but influential, Black Mountain College, known as the American Bauhaus, where he was rector for a few months. During that long period of time, with difficult vicissitudes such as the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany, he masterfully combined his work as a creator with that of teaching many generations, with students or colleagues including

Interaccin del color [] Es un vo-lumen indispensable para el artis-ta, el arquitecto o el profesor que encuentra un mayor reto en el des-cubrimiento que en un sistema de colores seguros.Architectural Forum, 1963 2

Interaction of Color is the most comprehensive and intelligent, as well as the handsomest, book we yet have on this subject. It is an indispensable volume for the artist, architect, or teacher who finds a greater challenge in discovery than in a safe color system.Architectural Forum, 1963 2

duradero que cualquier cosa que se aprenda nicamente por la lectura o la escucha (Albers 2014, 291) 4.

As fue desde sus primeros pasos como maestro en las Bauhaus de Wei-mar, Dessau y Berln hasta su actividad final como profesor de la Universidad de Yale en la que fue nombrado Doc-tor honoris causa en Bellas Artes pa-sando por el pequeo y complicado, aunque influyente, Black Mountain College, conocido como la Bauhaus americana, del que fue rector unos pocos meses. Durante ese largo perio-do de tiempo, con difciles vicisitudes como el ascenso de los nazis al poder en Alemania, compagin magistral-mente su labor como creador con la de maestro de muchas generaciones, entre las que tuvo alumnos o compa-eros como su propia esposa, tambin pintora de gran talento, Anni Albers, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Robert Raus-chenberg, Buckminster Fuller y Ri-chard Serra, entre muchos otros.

No resulta extrao, por lo tanto, la dedicatoria de su obra escrita ms co-nocida, Interaccin del Color: Este libro es mi agradecimiento a mis es-tudiantes (Albers 1979, 7), que con-trasta con el desilusionado epigrama que Goethe dedic a Schopenhauer: Con que gusto seguira enseando todava / si los escolares no se creye-sen maestros enseguida!. El filsofo, atrado por la teora de los colores despus de conocer a Goethe, que frecuentaba el saln literario de su madre Johanna en Weimar, quiso su-perarlo y escribi a su vez su propio tratado, que titul Sobre la visin y los colores, no muy bien acogido por

50 his wife, also a talented painter, Anni Albers, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Robert Rauschenberg, Buckminster Fuller and Richard Serra, among many others. We cannot, therefore, be surprised about the dedication in his best-known written work, Interaction of Colour: This book is my thanks to my students (Albers 1975, v), which contrasts with the disillusioned epigram that Goethe dedicated to Schopenhauer: I would be delighted to still be teaching/if the students did not consider themselves masters right away!. The philosopher, attracted by the theory of colours after meeting Goethe, who frequented the literary salon of his mother Johanna in Weimar, wanted to surpass it and in turn wrote his own treatise, which he called On vision and colours, which was not warmly welcomed by the great writer. Given this lack of enthusiasm from Goethe, Schopenhauer angrily attacked him in a letter in 1815, in which he asserted that his theory would someday be studied in schools. This is when Goethe wrote the epigram mentioned earlier 5. Albers would have been aware of the discrepancies between the two, but took from each what best suited his theories: When he (Schopenhauer) tried to improve Goethes 6-part color circle to Goethes dismay he changed the previous presentation of 6 equal areas to decidedly different quantities (Albers 2006, 43).It was in 1950, shortly after his time at Black Mountain College 6 when he began the series of paintings that would make him universally famous, Homage to the Square, of which there are more than two thousand different known interpretations. Here I say interpretations in the strictly musical sense of the word, as exemplified by Nicholas Fox Weber at the inaugural conference 7 of the great retrospective exhibition organised by the March Foundation in Madrid between March and July 2014. Fox used a fragment of Beethovens String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131, played with two versions of that series, like those in Figures 1 and 2, interpreted once by the Italian String Quartet and once by the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. That is, the same musical work with different interpretations. Or to put it another way: the same conceptual work with different variations. The exhibition, entitled Josef Albers. Minimal means, maximum effect 8, consists of a wide miscellany in which were accommodated over one hundred paintings and drawings, photographs, pieces of furniture and other objects through which one can appreciate, in a setting of

el gran escritor. Ante la falta de en-tusiasmo de Goethe, Schopenhauer le ataca airadamente en una carta en 1815, en la que le espeta que ser su teora la que algn da se estudie en las escuelas. Es cuando Goethe escri-be el epigrama citado 5.

Albers ser consciente de las discre-pancias entre ambos, pero tomar de cada uno aquello que mejor se adap-te a sus teoras: Cuando (Schopen-hauer) quiso perfeccionar el crculo cromtico de 6 sectores de Goethe para gran disgusto de ste, cambi la presentacin anterior de 6 reas iguales por cantidades decididamente diferentes (Albers 2010, 58).

Fue en 1950, poco despus de su paso por el Black Mountain Collegue

6, cuando comenz la serie de pintu-ras que le hara universalmente famo-so, Homenaje al cuadrado, de la que

se conocen ms de dos mil interpreta-ciones diferentes. Y pongo interpre-taciones en el sentido estrictamente musical del trmino, como ejemplific Nicholas Fox Weber en la conferencia inaugural 7 de la magna exposicin retrospectiva organizada por la Fun-dacin March en Madrid entre marzo y julio de 2014. Fox puso el mismo fragmento del Cuarteto de cuerdas n 14 Op. 131 de Beethoven, interpre-tado con dos versiones de dicha serie como las de las figuras 1 y 2 una por el Quartetto Italiano de cuerda y la otra por la Orquesta Filarmnica de Budapest. Es decir, la misma obra musical, distintas interpretaciones. O tambin: la misma obra conceptual, distintas variaciones.

La exposicin, titulada Josef Al-bers. Medios mnimos, efecto mxi-mo 8, est compuesta por una amplia miscelnea en la que tuvieron cabida ms de cien pinturas y dibujos, foto-grafas, mobiliario y otros objetos a travs de los cuales se puede apreciar, en un marco con la magnitud adecua-da, la ingente obra de un creador dife-rente, humilde pero seguro de lo que hizo a lo largo de su vida (Fig. 3).

Las ediciones de su obra en ingls y en espaol, sin contar las reimpre-siones, han evolucionado desde la magna edicin original limitada de 1963 reeditada ms modestamente en 2009 a la ltima versin digital de 2014 (primera versin en 2013), pasando por las ediciones de bolsillo, con contenidos sucesivamente am-pliados (Figs. 4 a 9).

Resulta evidente que el acceso a la obra de Albers en todo el mundo fue durante muchos aos muy limitado y casi nicamente a travs de las muy reducidas casi reduccionistas edicio-nes de bolsillo. Ser necesario esperar hasta 2013, en que para celebrar el 50

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1. homage to the square: Glow (homenaje al cuadrado: resplandor). 1966 (Albers 2014, 150)2. homage to the square (homenaje al cuadrado). 1971 (Albers 2014, 151)3. Vista parcial de la exposicin Josef Albers. medios mnimos, efecto mximo (foto del autor)

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the appropriate magnitude, the enormous work of a different creator, humble but secure about what he did throughout his life (Fig. 3). The editions of his work in English and in Spanish, not counting reprints, have evolved from the original great limited 1963 edition, re-edited more modestly in 2009, to the latest digital version in 2014 (first version in 2013), in the meantime appearing as paperback versions, with successively greater content (Figs. 4-9).It is clear that access to the work of Albers worldwide was very limited for many years and almost only an option through the very small, almost reductionist, paperback editions. Wider access would have to wait until 2013, when another more extensive paperback edition was published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original limited edition, and above all the app appeared that will surely mean his definitive democratisation. It should be emphasized, as Albers did himself, that the original edition of 1963 had two surprising features: one physical, its weight of twenty two pounds, and another economic, its price of hundred dollars (Albers 1975), which made its wide circulation very difficult. What stands out in the original edition is its last theoretical chapter, XXIV, Color theories, which was not incorporated into the paperback version until 2006, and in particular its first section, that reflects the overriding influence on Albers, namely Goethe. It was devoted to what is called Goethes triangle (Fig. 10), which he said was It is probably the most condensed and clear system of presentation of an essential order in the vast world of color. He ended the chapter stating that:

We wonder why the fundamental and at the same time beautiful Goethe Triangle has been so rarely published. We should also like to mention that Goethe called his col..