Dimensional Color, 2nd Edition

Lois Swirnoff

Preface to Second Edition

Since Dimensional Color was originally published, in 1988, my work has turned increasingly to light, in its manifestation as color. At the Cooper Union Art School my students have studied additive color, using light projected onto complex surfaces, in the process exploring the economies as well as the subtleties of reflected color mixture. These new experiments show the possibilities of complexity—the interaction of the variables of color in conjunction with modulated three-dimensional form. A new genre of light and surface structure extends the possibilities of color dimension in art, architecture, and design.

Richard Anuskiewicz and Julian Stanczak’s paintings since the 1960s which emphasize additive color, inform art and our perceptions, and are included in the chapter on Color and Light.

A new chapter on Color Structure, beginning with the work of Robert Slutzky, extends the meaning of this term—from flat surfaces to three-dimensional volumes and surfaces and their combinations in groupings—to complex works of art and design. These excursions into the perennially fascinating relationship between form and color may offer a challenge to the architect and the urban designer.

Dimensional Color is enhanced and enlarged in this new edition. To facilitate its usefulness in teaching and in design practice, the experimental work is consolidated into sequential chapters, and the visual models are now accompanied by titles—welcome additions in response to my constructive critics. Among them, Harold Linton in particular is to be thanked for his thoughtful and helpful comments. My conversations with Robert Slutzky have enhanced this edition, as they have challenged me over time.

Lois Swirnoff
Feltman Professor
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
New York, 2002

ISBN: 0-393-73102-2
August, 2003
192 pages; 230 color, 58 b&w illustrations
Paperback