The Colorist
Archive

A living archive of how artists work with color across time. Each artist profile scans publicly available works to trace dominant colors, a chromatic fingerprint, and the arc of a palette across a lifetime.A living archive of how artists work with color across time, tracing palettes, fingerprints, and lifetime arcs from public works.

Begin with an artist, carry a palette into the drawing system, or read the wider project.Begin with an artist, carry a palette into the drawing system, or read the wider project.

Scanning works…

Preston Dickinson

Dickinson translated factories, still lifes, and city structures into crystalline planes of color. His palette balances industrial greys and browns with sudden passages of blue, rose, and yellow.

Palette: #C7C1B0 #6D6047 #A49D84 #54422F #81542A #A67C4F #B49A3F #0F0F0F

  • Still Life (ca. 1924): #695F4A #B4B08F #171F1F #322A21 #464235 #283F39
  • Still Life in Interior (1920-22): #C5C7B4 #687F7C #C7B880 #9D9471 #315B6A #726E5C
  • The Hills (ca. 1919): #3D4768 #79695C #7F7D94 #7F673F #33384A #59575F
  • A Bridge: #7F8181 #7790AA #64656B #50505A #A8AFB1 #A39779
  • Still Life in Interior (1920): #BFB19F #808483 #C1A266 #8C7563 #2A3144 #B68B37
  • Hillside (1919): #A08255 #4F4337 #775E3F #C5B398 #D5AF70 #D09948
  • Manchester, Nh (1919): #A5A79A #8A9CA3 #506373 #335784 #B0A576 #5B5246
  • Industry, By (1923): #60665E #37332D #644530 #B9B59E #878875 #755F54
  • Industry II, By: #BDBBAA #8E6B5E #69655F #337282 #AE6B51 #C69851
  • Interior with Flowers, By (1924): #1B1D1D #203B39 #3F2B1E #5E3F26 #3C665F #445139
  • Outskirts of the City (Unkn): #D9CCBC #B5A790 #8C7E69 #5F5748 #393429 #8F9397
  • Power Station, Night By (1924): #4C5750 #7F8B7F #ABB6AA #30352B #776A50 #524934
  • Still Life, Double-Side Image with Figure Study on Verso (ca. 1920): #181028 #322337 #4A619E #4B546C #E5DAD7 #ADA0A0
  • Still Life (1924): #695E4B #171F1F #352B21 #BBB695 #4B4638 #928F74
  • Factory (ca. 1920): #7DA2AD #6E7F74 #8B9F93 #9BA77D #CBD4C2 #BABB6C
  • High Bridge (1922): #B0AC83 #535F59 #848C78 #132C39 #D3D5B4 #6B5E42
  • Houses and Landscape (1918): #566F83 #8D9A92 #446755 #ABAE70 #829A57 #C38F82
  • My House (unda): #9AA5B3 #286D6F #171F11 #C0C5CD #44544E #838A88
  • Quebec (1925): #BCBBB3 #95968E #5C6F7A #687166 #374D4F #957A60
  • Street in Quebec (Unkn): #A3B6CC #356686 #7394B0 #3F5756 #677A7B #0B272D
  • The Hills (1919): #9F8854 #7C7A71 #CB9B3A #223252 #C4C2CE #363937
  • Untitled Landscape (1918): #A6ABB5 #777F8B #47527B #B1A34D #747EAC #929CC2
  • Winter, Harlem River (Unkn): #899AA0 #3E4D4E #C2BEBF #537C8C #A7A293 #1C272D
  • Natura Morta in Un Interno (1920-22): #D3CDBB #394150 #686C71 #A8967E #CAAB67 #11162B
  • The Artist's Table: #7A7D81 #574938 #BABCB2 #4588B1 #222527 #73562F
  • Quebec (ca. 1889-1930): #BBBBB3 #495E67 #63695F #939387 #798A90 #A08669
  • Industry (1983): #100F0E #6E4624 #252726 #444944 #906531 #534125
  • Quebec (1983): #59624F #868C70 #3C4232 #283C38 #7D794C #79692F
  • Still Life: #D2C3B7 #6E7172 #40414B #614E37 #212029 #B99E7F
  • Still Life No. 1, By (1924): #50504E #162D3A #7F766D #33595B #272C2C #141718
  • Still Life No. 1 (1), By (1928): #949073 #352B21 #615C49 #46645F #1D3231 #1F1D18
  • Still Life with Yellow-Green Chair By (1928): #7E7D7D #4B4845 #8D875B #BBB6AC #B5A88B #604533
  • Tabletop Still Life Books and Teapot (1922): #B3AE95 #787263 #2C5461 #642E24 #161514 #744A2F
  • The Black House: #A78858 #171313 #5C5745 #806F45 #A59686 #243552
  • Vase of Flowers (1995): #7191B8 #151B2A #476B95 #F0DEA5 #AA996D #9B7147

The Palette

The Works

How the palette changed

Chromatic Comparison

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