It is obvious to anyone living in today's world that colours have a profound impact on the way we perceive our surroundings. However, few people know the origin of colour. Where did it come from? Who discovered it? When did it get discovered? It is a travesty that in today’s fast paced world we take colour for granted. The purpose of this essay is to briefly outline the origin of colour and to clear up some of the common misconceptions surrounding this phenomenon.
In 1856 the first step towards the discovery of colour was taken. Pierre Drisçon, a small-time Parisian photographer, was attempting to develop a photo of a croissant, and due to the contaminated water he used in his developing, he produced the first sepia photo. For almost three-quarters of a century, sepia was something of a novelty around the world, which only the rich could afford. With the rise of the middle class in the late 18th century, sepia became more available to the public, though its supply was limited in quantity, for modern sepia-producing techniques had not yet been developed.
The first colour discovered was the colour red. There is a lot of controversy surrounding who discovered it first, but a few things are known for sure. For one, though it was discovered by the Germans sometime in the late 1930s, it was the Soviets who capitalized on the discovery, which is why supporters of communism in the ‘40s and ‘50s were known as “reds.” Of course, during this time in history there was much rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States, so United States scientists were eager to find another colour. In 1952 they hit jackpot, and discovered the colour blue. National excitement over this event spawned the use of the colour blue in the American flag, an icon which is still recognized today. The stars on the blue background were designed to represent America’s superiority over the dull red stripes of communism.
In the wake of the Cold War, many countries vied to be the next to find a colour. During the beginning of the second half of the century, colour was still a rarity, and black and white still reigned supreme. However, in 1956, it was found that blue could be harvested from the ocean, thus inciting a wave of scientists to discover new places to develop colour. In February 1957, a Bolivian scientist working in the US by the name of Felipe Jose Menendez accidentally discovered green while trying to harvest red from a tree. (This was before red was discovered in the bodies of almost all mammals) Soon after, a team of Chinese scientists found the colour yellow while analyzing a sand sample taken from the Mongolian desert.
After its initial burst of popularity in the 1950s, colour received a backlash from the public, particularly in America and Britain, where it was regarded as a tool of communist propaganda. In the liberal decade that followed, pop culture saw a backlash against the colourist movement of the earlier decade. One of the most famous examples of this is the Beatle’s “White Album,” which was intended to encourage a move back into the black and white of the past. Another such example is the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black,” which proclaims a similar message.
However, by the 1970s, colour was once again embraced by the nation at large, due in part to the wave of hallucinogenic drug usage, which helped scientists realize that the world had not yet experienced the full range of colours available. In 1973 a Welsh immigrant named Hubert VanLangderby discovered purple in the fields of New Jersey. The colour was extremely popular until the discovery of orange by a Tibetan Sherpa later that decade in 1976. Advances in technology helped scientists to realize that all basic colours had been discovered, so for the next fifteen years experiments were conducted in the use of hue and intensity. This directly resulted in the bright colours so popular in the eighties, and it is suspected that New Wave would not exist without the influence of colour, as is demonstrated by the popular song “She Blinded Me With Science,” a social commentary on the effect of colour on the last thirty or so years of human history.
In more recent years, a myriad of colours have been discovered with the help of computers, which can blend and adjust colours to create a large variety of hues. Research is still being developed in the area of colour, as little is understood about its origins. It is believed that if we can better understand where it comes from, we can perhaps predict where it is going. Scientists today are worried that global warming will result in a loss of colour, which today can be produced in mass quantities cheaply and efficiently. A growing part of the American market is dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the colour industry, which is becoming quite profitable in today’s highly colour-dependent world.
As efforts are made to understand what colour is, it is important to remember where it came from. The discovery of colour is relatively recent compared to better understood subjects such as chemistry and calculus. With the planet moving into the 21st century, perhaps colour can be better understood so that it continues to be exploited by future generations.
*this is in no way associated with Alice Walker's 1982 novel
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