34 COLOR

THE EMOTIONAL EFFECT OF COLOR

Our emotional reactions to certain colors are partly due to the
symbolic meanings that have become associated with them. In
the early Christian churches colors were used to convey definite
ideas to the people who were unable to read. White was employed
for innocence, black for evil or death, gray for penitence, red for
love or martyrdom, blue for sincerity or hope, and the other colors
for equally definite ideas. The color symbolism instituted by the
church has been carried on by the theater up to the present time.

Color, because of its emotional effect upon us, is largely re-
sponsible for the atmosphere of a home. It is capable of soothing
or irritating, cheering or depressing, charming or boring, welcom-
ing or repelling. A color changes in emotional value if its hue,
value, or intensity is changed. To illustrate: pure blue will have
a different effect from greenish blue, which is unlike it in hue, or
from baby blue, which is different from it in value, or from grayish
blue, which does not agree with it in intensity. An important
thing for a decorator to know is how to use color for its emotional
effect. Different colors excite different emotional responses, and,
too, some persons are more sensitive and more stimulated than
others.

Yellow, which is the color of the sun and artificial light, has an
effect of cheerfulness, gaiety, buoyancy, optimism, exultation,
sympathy, and even prosperity. It almost sings and shouts. For
centuries it was considered a sacred color in China*

In home decoration yellow is indispensable, because more than
any other color it gives the effect of light. It supplies sunshine,
even on a gray day. The modified yellows, such as buff, cream,
ivory, beige, ecru, pale lime yellow, and pale banana yellow, are
useful wall colors because they have the happy faculty of pulling
together and harmonizing colors used in draperies, carpets, and
upholstery. Yellow is a friend to the person with a limited income
because it has the power of making inexpensive cottons, linens, and
woolens look beautiful. Accessories of yellow are usually needed
in north rooms* Gold, which is a type of yellow, is also useful;
for example, a gold screen would add cheer to a dull room of the
more elegant type. Yellow is also being used effectively fo* ex-
terior house trimming, especially for shutters.