welcome to the slideshow tonal values in history nature and art in last week's lesson we saw examples of the use of neutrals black white and grays and one color today we will eliminate all colors and only work with black white and gray just as john singer sergeant did in his portraits of dr posey at home and madame x we have previously covered tonal values remember in the first lesson on how albert muncell classified color in terms of u tonal value and chromatic value and later in gray scales of willem ostwald and johannes etten in today's lesson we will eliminate all color and work only with black white and gray the concept goes back to leonardo da vinci who in his street is on painting wrote about the contrast of light and dark or chiaroscuro that makes painting on a two-dimensional surface appear three-dimensional this river scene by dutch painter salomon von rustal shows how dark values come forward while light values fade into the horizon creating a realistic three-dimensional effect the same three-dimensional effect is achieved in this contemporary 2004 painting by david hockney as the dark values come forward and the light once recede some of the finest examples of tonal values are found in chinese and japanese black and white ink drawings the concept is beautifully described in an essay by toshihiko isuzu on the elimination of color in far eastern art in philosophy where he states that the zen monk achieved expression in the fewest strokes of a brush just as extraneous words were eliminated in haiku poetry this japanese painting of a crow perched on a branch with just a few strokes also illustrates how the empty space is an important part of the composition [Music] another form of painting that uses neutral gray values ranging from light to dark to make a flat surface appear three-dimensional or sculptural is called grizzai the doors of this cabinet resemble carving on stone rather than what it actually is painted values of grey on wood as in painting kiera's cure is effectively illustrated in black and white photography as in this painting by edward weston cyprus point lobos california in 1922 shade and shadow emphasize texture in the wood which appears to flow like water in a river this dramatic effect would be somewhat diminished in the color photo too much color can be tiresome after the pastels of spring saturated colors of summer and vibrant color of fall nature cleans her palate in winter the black white and greys emphasize the form of trees and texture of the walkway in this winter scene when looking at fine art notice not only the colors but the tonal values and composition in a black and white copy of vermeer's young woman with a water pitcher one can see the range of dark medium and light values and how without a distraction of color they emphasize the composition of the painting in a previous lesson we studied johannes etten's seven color contrasts one of which was the light dark contrast in his classes at the bauhaus eden focused on the importance of kiara's cura in the composition of a painting he had students turned paintings such as the enunciation of saint anne by giotto shown here into a study of light and dark values etten also had his students do a series of exercises to have them develop sensitivity as well as a personal expression of line and form in their work these drawings from from his book design and form show how he used tonal values to achieve this the flower brings to mind the zen black and white ink drawings while the cabbage leaf is a study rendered in tonal values that details the structure of a natural form