Teaching

Jean-Philippe Lenclos’s ambition and educational philosophy are to share and pass on his practical knowledge and skills and to develop his theories on colour in greater depth, in order to teach students to create with colour. His conviction is that colour has become a major component of the environment. Colour is a vital cross-discipline, a visual element in all design, from the smallest domestic object to an entire city. From fashion to industrial design, stage design to architecture, all disciplines taught in an art school raise questions of colour.

In the first year course, my aim was to introduce students to the three key pillars of the understanding of colour: the colour wheel, contrast and colour families. These three aspects are partly based on the theories of Johannes Itten, who taught at the Bauhaus until 1923. In his teaching, Itten used the theories of Isaac Newton, who in 1666, showed that when white sunlight is projected through a prism, it splits into the colours of the spectrum. Itten also drew on the work of Michel-Eugène Chevreul, who developed important ideas about colour contrast in 1839. The foundation of my teaching was the colour wheel, which is the simplest tool for precisely identifying colours and their relationships.

 

Theory

students lecturer studio design

↑ First year students on the colour course at École Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, Paris. 1991

colour wheel primary tones

↑ Students create collages from which they then create a colour wheel, comprising three rotating discs, which can be turned to generate all the possible contrasts.

primary colours student collage

↑ Each student makes a collage in a different family of colours. © Charlotte Lardinois

colour wheel pastel tones

↑ Colour wheel of pastel tones.

desk pastel colours student motif designs

↑ Use of a colour wheel in a range of pastels. © Delphine Valois

colour wheel grey tones

↑ Colour wheel of grey tones.

grey colours student pattern designs

↑ Some student textile designs using a chequered pattern. The colour wheel is the basic tool used in designing a range of textiles in a particular colour family. © Laurent Dareau

earth colours wheel tones

↑ A colour circle of earth tones.

earth colours student collage

↑ Collage in a colour family of earth tones, and the corresponding colour wheel. © Stéphanie Pacart

Project: design a pattern

student designs colour wheel patterns

↑ The colour wheel is the basis of an understanding of colour. Students make a colour wheel in a particular colour family, such as pastels, bright colours or greys. © Elise Muchir

student scarf designs primary colours butterflies scarf designs

↑ The different stages of an exercise to create a design for a silk scarf on the theme of butterflies. This example shows, from top left corner, a collage to create a colour family and, next to it, the colour wheel drawn from the collage. Underneath is a study of butterflies and a translation of this into black and white. On the right are the designs based on this study and a chromatic range for the scarf in the same colour family. And finally, a scale creation of the silk scarf. © Dorothée Volut

student scarf designs earth colours butterflies scarf designs

↑ Second example of student’s work for this project, this time in earth tones. © Alice Taylor

Project: still life in watercolour

student paintings still life flowers vases

↑ Many painters have practised painting flowers, which is a perfect exercise for studying the colours of nature. Students paint a study of a bouquet of flowers in a single morning, exploring their individual perceptions of colour and their own style.

student watercolour painting still life flowers vase

↑ Student’s watercolour study of flowers.

student paintings flowers patterns

↑ Studies in pattern making based on the student’s still life paintings. ©Damien Laurens

student watercolour painting flowers

↑ A student’s watercolour study of flowers. © Chloé Jumeau-Lafond, 2002

Project: colour in 3D

student designs patterns black white rhythm movement

↑ This stage is about moving from 2D to 3D. It starts with work on a graphic rhythm in black and white, which is then applied to three 3D shapes forming an abstract architectural whole.

3d models patterns black white graphic lines

↑ Each student applies the black and white graphic motif to the 3D forms.

3d models patterns colours graphic lines

↑ The motifs are then created in a colour family designed to respect the colour range of a natural environment. This study also introduces students to colour perception in relation to space.

student design model patterns black white colour three dimensions

↑ Single design shown in colour and black and white. © Souhail Matouk

Project: space and colour

student models three dimensions box landscape white colour

↑ Students then work on a colour version of the same composition, in 2D and 3D.

student painting abstract blocks landscape colour

↑ Painting of a very colourful, imaginary urban landscape. © Nicolas Hermlé

student model three dimensions abstract blocks landscape colour

↑ Model in a box of a very colourful, imaginary urban landscape. © Nicolas Hermlé

student models three dimensions landscape boxes colour

↑ Collection of students’ urban landscape models.

Project: the polychrome city

student painting design city multi coloured

↑ The polychrome city. This utopian vision of the city was a project adopted by Fernand Léger in the early 1920s. It is a three-dimensional exercise that gives students an opportunity to use colour on a monumental scale. Each student builds a housing block like a sculpture, initially in white and then, having made a few sketches, introducing the colours of the spectrum. © Claire Laude

student model design city multi coloured

↑ Next, the students build a model based on their sketch. © Claire Laude

student models design city multi coloured white

↑ And finally, they present their model on a neutral background. This model is shown with a version in white too. © Claire Laude

students models design city multi coloured

↑ When all the models are grouped together, the utopian vision of the polychrome city becomes a reality.

Project: industrial landscape

student models design industrial cylinders colours red orange blue

↑ Colour in the industrial landscape. Here students work on colour for storage towers at a hydrocarbon factory. The factory is located near a new urban site and the student brief is to design a dynamic, innovative visual identity and at the same time to give local people a playful, colourful architectural landscape.

student model design industrial cylinders colours green blue

↑ Design in cold colours.

student model design industrial cylinders colours orange blue

↑ Design in warm colours.

student models design industrial cylinders colours red white blue

↑ Design in a mixture of colours.

 

We regret that due to incomplete archives, it has not been possible to identify all of the student’s whose work is shown here. If you recognise your work or the work of another student, please contact us here so that we can include their names in the copyright notice.