Note: A late Happy New Year’s everyone! For the start of the New Year, I’m sharing fascinating facts about the color white— a few I’ve recently learned from University Art’s terrific blog, plus some fascinating insights of my own — so you can learn more about the color!
For starters, did you know that white represents the absence of hue or chroma, and cannot be made from the three primaries (the way black theoretically can be)? And while it’s not represented on the color wheel, white is an essential ingredient of any palette. Keep in mind though, it is “your” white, which is often not pure and has some slight color to it. This slight color reflects in the name of the white, i.e. Winter White, Vanilla, Pink Sand, Milk, Alabaster, and more.
White is the color of fresh snow and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on television and computer screens is created by a mixture of red, blue, and green light.
What has White Symbolized Throughout History?
White is a symbol of goodness and purity in many cultures.
White symbolizes purity, joy, and innocence.
The angels in early art were always draped in white.
In Egypt, the pharaoh wore a white crown to verify dominion.
Greeks wore white to cause pleasant dreams.
Ancient Persians believed all gods wore white.
In India, it is the color of the holy men and women.
To the Navaho, white denotes the eastern mountains.
To the Chinese white represents the west and is the symbol for mourning.
In Siam, white elephants are sacred.
A white flag is raised as a token of friendly intentions. or as a symbol of surrender.
Many people consider it bad luck to be married in anything but a white garment.
What Does White Communicate When You Wear it?
Positive Meanings – Pure, clean, neatness, freshness, futuristic, joy, hope, spiritual, delicacy, forgiveness, love, enlightenment, innocence, goodness.
Negative Meanings – Clinical, colorless, cold, neutral.
When to Wear White to Create a Positive Impression
- To create strong contrast against dark colors, such as navy, charcoal or black, which projects authority.
- There is still a strong association of white with traditional medicine.White will project impeccable standards of hygiene and personal care, provided it is always clean.
- As a first-time bride.
- An entire outfit for an attention-getting, progressive image.
When Not to Wear White
- If you have little time for personal grooming, white shows every mark.
- As a complete outfit in the evening, unless you’re in a hot climate and want to look and feel cool.
- In sooty urban areas where white requires daily laundering.
A Brief History of White Pigments
Lime powder and gesso were the first whites available in prehistoric times. The Greeks contributed to art materials with a lead white, a pigment that would become ubiquitous in Western art. Unfortunately, lead white was found to be toxic—it was hazardous to its manufacturing workers, the artists, and even the women who once applied it as makeup!
It took chemists a long time to develop the formulas to replace lead white. They finally created Zinc white for use in oil paints in the late 1700s. Zinc white is more transparent and useful in tinting and glazing work.
Then in 1921, a US company introduced a titanium white. Today titanium white has primarily replaced lead white in artists’ pigments because of its lack of toxicity, its thermal and environmental stability, and its opacity.
The titanium pigment, titanium dioxide, accounts for almost 70% of the total production volume of all pigments worldwide. It is used is in thousands of other commercial and industrial applications ranging from foods and toothpaste to cosmetics, sunblock, and more.
Using White in Painting
In painting, the color white is applied to create a range of effects. First, white can lighten dark colors. Second, white can be used when mixing colors to create tints, pastels, or high-value areas in a painting. However, mixing white with color also will cool that color—so to bring the resulting mixture back to the proper temperature, warm colors may need to be added.
Want to learn more about Color?
Take a ColorInsight Color Workshop Today!
Check out the workshop schedule on our Events Page. Then, feel free to contact Mary Lou Manlove by emailing her at marylou@colorinsight.biz or calling (650) 400-2230.