Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color | Exhibitions | Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

This exhibition started on May 11, 2018 and is on display until January 13, 2019.

Color is an illusion, but not an unfounded illusion. —C.L. Hardin, Color for Philosophers, 1988. Color shouts or whispers to us from every corner of our world, saturates nearly every surface we touch. An objective, quantifiable event, color is also a subjective personal experience, different for every person and deeply intertwined with language and memory. Color perception is an elusive, complex phenomenon that is still not fully understood, despite centuries of research by artists and designers, scientists and philosophers. Yet designers deploy color everyday, across an incredibly wide array of media. Used effectively, color helps us to navigate our physical world, organize and ingest information, and make decisions as consumers. Saturated brings together extraordinary rare books from Smithsonian Libraries and compellingly colorful objects from Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection to explore how the sensory experience of color has been conceived by history's greatest color thinkers, visualized with graphic tools and models, and used by designers to bring both order and excitement to our visual world.

"Sunflower" pattern; a/l: printed in black on gold. Sample number stamped on verso: 134750; m/o: printed in green on red-orange. Sample number stamped on verso: 138790; p/u: printed in red on blue. Sample number stamped on verso: 138780.

Sidewall, Sunflower, 1972
block printed on paper.
1977-31-5-a/u

This object was made by Morris & Co..
This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
There are 23 images of this object.

A dense design containing black and white images of the Aeonium cacti, with identical images printed slightly off-register in red and blue. This is an anaglyph or 3D printing.

Sidewall, Bloom, 2015
digital print on paper.
Gift of twenty2 wallpaper.
s-e-2704

This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
There are 2 images of this object.

Scenic wallpaper design consisting of an architectural interior, a landscape view, and a scene with figures and satyrs, printed one on top of another. When viewed under normal lighting the scene is illegible, but when viewed through a red, green or blue lens a different scenic pattern is revealed with each color.

Scenic Wallpaper, Landscape No. 1, 2017
digital print on paper.
Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment.
s-e-2703

This object was made by Carnovsky.
This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
There are 16 images of this object.

One of a set of kitchen utensils set of four black measuring spoons on a ring in a variety of sizes with green, blue, red, and yellow labels.

Good Grips Measuring Spoon Set, ca. 1990
abs plastic, black.
Gift of OXO.
1992-52-28-a/e

This object was made by OXO International.
This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
There are 3 images of this object.

Upright vacuum cleaner: metalic gray, yellow, and clear housing leading up to handle, with cavities for tools (brushes, tubes); front dominated by motor and dust collection bin assembly of yellow and clear plastic; at bottom, wide, low cleaning head with brush in front, two wheels in back, yellow at joints and adjustment points. Power cord wraps around back of handle.

DC07 Vacuum Cleaner, 2002
molded abs plastic, polycarbonate, rubber, metal, electronic components.
Gift of Paul W. Thompson.
2009-35-1-a/e

This object was made by Dyson Ltd..
This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
There are 2 images of this object.

Circular red lacquer box with short circular foot and fitted circular lid, sitting on carved wooden stand; foot carved with a fret or 'lei-wen" pattern. Side of box carved with peone-like flowers interspersed with beribboned Buddhist-taoist symbols set among deeply carved buds and scrolls. Outside edge of lid carved with Eight Buddhist Emblems of Happy Augury interspersed among flowers and scrolls. Top of lid with carved landscape framed by a band of bud-like figures adjacent to inner band of interlocking geometric figures and "shou" characters.

Covered Box On Stand (China), 1736–1795
carved lacquer, wood, silk.
Bequest of Mary Hearn Greims.
1927-5-27-a/d

This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.

Egg-shaped computer/monitor unit (a) of translucent clear and blue plastic, with screen, CD drawer and two small speakers at front; carry handle inset in top rear; retractable blue foot bar on underside at front. Two accompanying components are also of translucent clear and blue plastic: one, a flat rectangular keyboard (b) with black keys, retractable foot bar and cord; the other, a circular mouse with cord (c).

iMac Computer With Keyboard And Mouse, 1999
molded plastic, rubber, glass, metal, electronic components.
Gift of Apple Computer.
2000-63-1-a/c

This object was made by Apple Computer, Inc..
This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
There are 8 images of this object.

BeoCom Model 2200 Telephone, 1986
molded plastic, electronic components.
Gift of Arango Design Foundation.
1994-31-122-a/c

This object was made by Bang & Olufsen.
This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
There are 2 images of this object.

Hanging lamp in the form of a large clear glass incandescent light bulb, the globe surrounded by a transluscent white plastic band from which project eight colorful, realistic figures of winged insects seemingly in flight around the bulb; halogen light source suspended from brass fitting in center of bulb-shaped globe.

J.B. Schmetterling (Butterfly) Hanging Lamp, 2011
mouth-blown glass, 3d-printed (flexible free-formed) plastic, machined brass,....
Gift of Ingo Maurer GmbH and Graham Owen.
2014-7-1-a/c