page_title: Herb Aach
section_title: Painting
hierarchical_section_title: Herb Aach / Career / Painting
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Farbenkreis zur Symbolisierung des menschlichen Geistes- und Seelenlebens, 1809, Original: Freies Deutsches Hochstift - Frankfurter Goethe-Museum[1] Das Schema illustriert das Kapitel "Allegorischer, symbolischer, mystischer Gebrauch der Farbe" in Goethe's Farbenlehre. Umschrift: (innerer Ring) [rot] "schön" [orange] "edel" [gelb] "gut" [grün] "nützlich" [blau] "gemein" [violett] "unnöthig" (äusserer Ring) [rot-orange] "Vernunft" [gelb-grün] "Verstand" [grün-blau] "Sinnlichkeit" [violet-rot] "Phantasie" Română: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Cercul culorilor pentru symbolizarea spirit şi sufletului omului, 1809. Original: Freies Deutsches Hochstift - Frankfurter Goethe-Museum
context_page_description: Herbert Aach was an American painter and writer. Aach's painting style is known for its intense and well placed pigmentation, which stemmed from his deep interest in color theory and color relationships. This interest in color theory and philosophy would lead him to write one of the most notable translations of Goethe's Color Theory.
context_section_description: Aach's early professional career was heavily inspired by the work of John Ferren and his ideas regarding color theory. Upon returning to the United States from Mexico, Aach explored his ideas about color execution in painting, where he developed the color expressionism style. This style formed out of his time developing paint at Art Crayon Company, which provided him access to pigments rarely accessible for public use and allowed him to experiment with newly developed pigmentation which he added to his own paints. He was also provided new pigments by DuPont and by the mid-1960s he began using fluorescent paints to achieve what has been described as "intensity and inner light".
  In the mid-1960s he moved from creating lush brushstrokes to creating larger areas of color upon the canvas allowing him to seek a "purer framework in which to explore color relationships." His estate describes the importance of color relationships in his art:
  Color relationships were central, built on innate physiological predispositions, and color was therefore too important to waste as a mere "label" for establishing objectural references.
  In 1974 he created the body of work Precession of Equinoxes. In this series Aach started with covering canvas in thin layers of gesso, inspired by Giotto's fresco-like surfaces. After laying the groundwork for his canvas, he painted sharp lines between color regions and used his signature fluorescent colors. Even with a use of hard lines, Aach believed his use of color overpowered the placement and appearance of the lines. Art critic Noel Frackman described the series as "handsome, uncomplicated paintings".
caption: Goethe's color wheel
exif: {}