This painting series is an investigation into the various light values of color.
My focus begins with a cluster of New England cities seen in colored silhouette. I have proposed colors, in my paintings, for the following five cities arranged in a square. Boston, in red, is the largest in the square's center. Providence, to the south, is in orange. Worcester, to the west, is in yellow. Manchester, to the north is in green and Portland, to the east, is in blue. There are fixed routes between the cities along which move 'carriers' of color. The carrier's color becomes discernible when it is more than half way to its destination city. The blue from Portland is noticed approaching Boston from the east. The yellow from Worcester is seen approaching Boston from the west.
When the color carriers enter a city, they are squeezed to become taller. The initial height increase occur in the outskirts. As they enter the city's core, their height further increases. Boston is the largest city in these compositions and Portland is the smallest. Providence, Worcester and Manchester are roughly the same size. Each city has an 'aura'. This is the distinctive colored atmosphere and luminous radiation surrounding its center. The aura's color is dense above the city's core and diminishes in stages toward the city's edges.
The individual color carrier moving between cities is three dimensional. It shows a bright value of its color in sunlight and a dark value of its color in shadow. Occasionally, there are gaps between the foreground carriers. Through these gaps are background carriers seen moving other colors. Every color carrier has a faint aura above it. This aura is the palest tone of the carrier's color. A red carrier displays a faint pink aura, a blue carrier displays a pale light blue aura and the yellow carrier displays a straw color aura.
Movement is implied by all this color activity. Vibration occurs among the dark carriers along the bottom the composition. Quivering occurs among the auras in the atmosphere between the cities. Vertical movement is inferred by the rise in height of the carriers' colors in the density of the city.
This cluster of cities and their connecting routes can be viewed from several sides. The first painting, 'Providence Boston', depicts the orange of Providence superimposed on the red of Boston. The second painting shows the green of Manchester over the distant red of Boston. These paintings demonstrate the movement of color with their light values in action.
Malcolm Montague Davis
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