The Elements of Color: A Treatise of the Color System of Johannes Itten
Birren, Faber. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1970. Hardbound. Translated by Ernst Van Hagen. Itten, who indirectly originated seasonal color analysis and influenced artists ranging from Wassily Kandinsky to Bridget Riley, was a follower of the neo-Zoroastrian religion, Mazdaznan, a source of conflict with the more commercially focused Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus school, resulting in his resignation and replacement with László Moholy-Nagy in 1923. Known for his expansion of the color wheel to a 'color sphere' encompassing 12 hues, Itten's research is explicated in this handsome edition, whose cover features claustrophobic letter spacing mirroring Albers-inspired nesting squares.
Tight, square spine. A small area of soiling to p. 30, but interior is else clean and unmarked. Some bumped corners and light edge-wear. 95 pp. Design.
