Lightness and Brightness and Other Confusions

ent Colour in Fridell Anter refers to a reference point or ‘helper concept’, as
she says, to which perceived colour changes of surfaces are compared. She
does, however, use the same method as Hård for determining inherent
colours, and this is why she chose to use the same term. But unlike Hård,
Fridell Anter makes no claims about the inherent colour representing any
‘real’ colour in the meaning discussed in this article. (Fridell Anter 2000, pp
59–64). Fridell Anter suggested already in her thesis that the term nominal
colour would be more fitting as a description of the concept behind inherent
colour, and the authors of this volume suggest that nominal colour should
replace this term in all similar uses of the concept. (See Light and Colour, p.
50 in this volume). The Dictionary gives nominal as “in name only; theoretical
– – minimal in comparison with real worth or what is expected…” (Collins
2003). It connotes face value, and as in the world of money and finance,
nominal value can have a precise meaning without direct reference to anything
real. This is exactly the relation of nominal colour to ‘real’ experienced
colours.
On a very fundamental level there are at least two modes of perceiving colour.
One entails the relative, relational and variable nature of colour, how it changes
and how the appearance of objects changes in relation to environmental
factors and time. It helps to place objects and spatial features in relation to
distance, time of day and season. This faculty is involved in our ability to
enjoy and evaluate our relation to our surroundings, to atmosphere and the
changes of natural conditions. The other level has to do with the material
qualities of objects irrespective of these conditions and changes.
As both Karin Fridell Anter and Monica Billger point out in their theses, we
are able to change our mode of attention and thus extract several levels of
perception from the same set of colour stimuli. (Fridell Anter 2000, pp. 36–
38; Billger 1999, pp. 10–12). Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s concepts of the ‘reflective
attitude’ and ‘living perception’, as discussed in his Phenomenology of
Perception (Merleau-Ponty 2002) are fundamental to the work of both
Fridell Anter and Billger. (See also Natural Experience and physical Abstractions,
pp. 23–24 in this volume).
A wall may be seen as ‘overlaid’, ‘covered’ or ‘coloured’ by shadows or colours
reflected from nearby surfaces. For the purpose of separating and analyzing
these layers or variations in perceived colour Monica Billger has introduced
in her thesis Colour in Enclosed Space, the concept of identity colour. Billger
writes:
The perceived colour is analyzed on two levels of reflective attention, one
that can be called holistic and one that is more detailed. With the former
attitude to the room we perceive the identity colour, and with the latter
the colour variations. Identity colour is defined as the main
colour impression of surfaces or parts of a room that are perceived as
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