M01. White
“White does not exist in nature.”
White Square - Kazimir Malevich. 1918
With it is also called “White on White”, and this is one of the most famous and representative artworks from the Russian suprematism movement, which took place in the beginning of the 20th. century. The white square floats above the canvas with its imperfect form and alignment, showing the settlement and the movement at the same moment. Painted right after the October Revolution, it was one of the most radical paintings of its day.
白方块 - 卡济米尔·马列维奇
也被叫作《白色上的白色》，是20世纪初俄国至上主义运动的最具典型代表之一。白色的方块浮于画布之上，不完美的形状与构图同时表达着沉静与动感。这幅于十月革命刚结束时面世的画作是当时最为激进的作品之一。
White is the full reflection of all colors of visible light. It is the mixture of red, blue, and green light from this screen you are looking at. It is the lightest color, the color of milk and snow, which might also be the first thing that comes into your mind thinking of it. We argue about all other colors whether they are pretty, but there are a thousand reasons for us to all love white. Looking back to ancient or even prehistoric times, this love might have already been pressed into our genes.
白色是所有可见光的反射，是你所见的这块屏幕上红、蓝、绿光源的混合。它是自然界中最亮的颜色。也许你也像我一样想到：是牛奶与雪的颜色。对其他的颜色，人们总是围绕各自的偏好争论不休，唯有白色我们始终无法不爱。当我们回顾历史甚至史前时代，也许就不难发现，这份爱早已刻进了我们的基因。
Lascaux Painting, Montignac, France.
法国拉斯科洞窟壁画
In the famous Lascaux Cave of France, about 15,000 years ago, prehistorical people used white pigment from calcite as a background or a highlight. There were not a lot of colors that could be used at that time. So-called earth pigments such as red and yellow ochre, umber, and charcoal from the fire are used along with calcite white to contour the life of their age.
一万五年前的法国拉斯科洞窟壁画中，史前人类便使用了方解石中的白色来作为底色或强调色。当时的人们只能从自然中汲取非常有限的可用色，而白色方解石已与红、黄赭石、棕土及炭黑一道走上了人们的调色盘。
Book of the Dead, Ancient Egypt. c. 1550 - c. 50 BC
死者之书（古埃及）约公元前1550-50年
Ancient Egypt paintings are often drawn on a whitewashed stone surface, the extremely dry climate helped most of them survive. Their gods and goddesses, priests, and priestesses are often dressed in white, especially when they are related to death, as well as the linen used to wrap mummies.
古埃及的壁画常常被绘于洗白的岩石表面，那里极度干燥的气候环境使它们得以保存。埃及众神与牧师的形象总是穿着白色服饰，特别是在那些与死亡相关的场景中，与包裹着木乃伊的亚麻布同色。
Nero’s Torches - Henryk Siemiradzki. 1876 (National Museum, Kraków, Poland)
尼禄的火炬 - 亨利克·西米拉兹基 （波兰克拉科夫国家美术馆）
In ancient Greece, Rome, and many other civilizations, the white color adapted and further developed in its meaning of purity, loyalty, chastity, and sometimes even holy. An adult Roman male commoner has to wear a plain white toga on formal occasions to represent his citizenship and attendant rights, freedoms, and responsibilities.
在古希腊、古罗马及许多其他同时期的文明中，白色延续并发展了它纯洁、忠诚、贞洁、神圣的特质。成年罗马男性公民需要在正式场合穿着白色的托架长袍来证明他的公民权、自由与责任。
Part of the worship and respect for white color must come from the natural things around us. The sweet milk that nourished us, the untouchable snow on the tip of the mountains, the precious pearl from the deep side of the water, or the moonlight pouring down from the goddess of the night. White was usually expensive and luxurious because it was never easy to get, it was always fragile because it was easy to be contaminated. Therefore we all try to be extra careful around it, love, appreciate, protect, and admire it.
对白色的崇拜与尊重一定程度上来源于我们身处的自然。甘甜的乳汁哺育了我们、山顶的白雪神圣不可触及、珍贵的珍珠来自于深海、皎洁的月光是夜晚的女神赠予的礼物。白色常常是昂贵而奢侈的，因为它难以得到；白色总是脆弱的，因为它是那么容易被污染。因此，白色所在之处我们总是多加小心地去爱它、感激它、保护它、也敬仰它。
Marble head from the figure of a woman. 2700 - 2500 BC. Cycladic art.
White marble was broadly used in Cycladic art, which is famous for its abstract simplicity, enhanced by the pure and almost transparent quality of the material.
大理石女性头像 - 基克拉泽斯文明
基克拉泽斯文明以其大理石人物雕像闻名，高品质而近乎透明的纯白大理石承托了雕塑简洁抽象的美感。
Flask with spout. 1st. century AD. (The J. Paul Getty Museum)
The opaque glass was used to mimic a stone vessel. This piece would have been found in a typical middle-class Roman household. To achieve the white color, the glassmaker added lead to the hot glass.
带口烧瓶（J·保罗·盖蒂博物馆）
不透明玻璃被用来模仿大理石容器，典型的罗马中产阶级家庭用品。为了获得白色，玻璃制造商在热玻璃中添加了铅。
Inheriting ancient worship, for thousands of years, white has never left the center of both the arts and people’s daily life. With its vulnerability, its preciousness, and its pure cleanliness. Kazimir Malevich was probably the first artist who only used white to create an art piece (see beginning), but the white pigment was celebrated by lots of other artists as well. Though it is not common to expose the canvas in traditional western paintings, it is very common in Asian arts to show off the white paper itself that carries the artwork from beneath. That exhibition of emptiness is another form of using white, even the most difficult one. The acquisition of aesthetics often takes place in the emptiness around the existence of the artwork.
继承了古老的崇拜，白色在数千年岁月中从未离开过艺术与日常生活的中心。它的脆弱、它的珍贵、它的纯洁，是亘古不变的。马列维奇也许是第一个仅使用白色来完成一幅画作的艺术家（见题首），但白色颜料亦是许多其他画家调色盘里的代表色。虽然传统西方油画并不常常暴露画布，在东方艺术文化中，昂贵的白色纸张本身便是画作的重要组成部分。留白是最重要，也是最难的表现手法之一。对于美的诠释往往不在所画之物，而在于其身之外的空寂。
Moonlight - Józef Chełmoński. 1877
月光 - 约瑟夫·赫尔蒙斯基
Pine Trees - Hasegawa Tohaku. c. 1595 (Tokyo National Museum)
松林图屏风 - 长谷川等伯
Regardless of the medium used for presentation, white is almost always relative. Just like Renoir said, white does not exist in nature. Because of its rarity, it always drags attention from all the other companies on the image. Maybe white does only exist theoretically and is based mainly on our imaginations. Dark horses in <Moonlight> and the silhouette in <Pine Trees> are the reasons why we see white, just like Yang and Yin depending on each other for their existence. Grown-up in Asian culture, this kind of association and dependency is one of the most subtle aesthetics that I appreciate.
不论艺术家表达的媒介，白色总是相对的。诚如雷诺阿所说，白色不存在于自然中。正由于白色的稀缺，它总是能在众多视觉元素中脱颖而出、引人侧目。也许白色确实只存在于理论层面上与人们的想象中。《月光》中黑色的骏马与《松林图》中的剪影是我们能够欣赏到画面中白色的原因，正如同阴与阳的相互依存。成长于亚洲文化的熏陶中，这种美的关联性与依存性，是我最欣赏的、微妙的美学体验之一。
The Third of May 1808 (Execution of the Defenders of Madrid) - Francisco Goya. 1814 (Museo del Prado, Madrid)
弗朗西斯科·戈雅（马德里普拉多博物馆）
Ruihe Tu (The Painting of Propitious Cranes) - Zhao Ji (Emperor Huizong of Song). c. 1112 (Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang)
瑞鹤图 - 赵佶（宋徽宗）（辽宁省博物馆）
Pages turned to modern-contemporary art, and a variety of bold artistic styles emerged. From impressionism to symbolism, from cubism to expressionism, the use of colors became braver and more experimental. Artists are less restricted by the theoretical dogma, individualism is celebrated. Especially in the era of the internet, anyone can be an artist, anyone can influence the whole world with their own perspective of view. We have been trying crazy things for more than a century now, also here white did not lose its central role in any existing form of art.
时间来到现当代艺术，各种大胆的艺术流派不断涌现出来。从印象派到象征主义，从立体主义到表现主义，艺术家们在颜色的选用上更为大胆，也更富实验性。他们不再被理论的教条所拘束，个人主义收到了广泛的接受与膜拜。特别是在这个互联网的时代，每个人都能成为艺术家，每个人都能用其独特的视角来影响这个世界。一个多世纪以来，我们尝试了无数的疯狂，而白色在任何一种艺术形式的表现中从未离开舞台的中心。
Three White Cottages in Saintes-Maries - Vincent van Gogh. 1888 (Kunsthaus Zürich)
文森特·梵高（苏黎世美术馆）
Composition With Yellow Patch - Piet Mondrian. 1930 (Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf)
皮特·蒙德里安（杜塞尔多夫北莱茵-威斯特法伦艺术品收藏馆）
Three Forms - Barbara Hepworth. 1935 (Tate Gallery, London)
© Hepworth Estate
芭芭拉·赫普沃斯（伦敦泰特美术馆）
As human beings, we never stop with the appreciation of art, we always try to take that joy of beauty with us, we bring it home and make it our own. Applying white color on the items occurred as soon as the technologies allowed (the first white pigments for painting were often toxic), and served initially as a signature of the social status and wealth of the owner when it was difficult to execute, which we talked about earlier. Much more interesting was when the technology got developed so white could become a part of our daily use.
作为人类，我们从未止于对艺术的单纯欣赏，而是尝试将美的享受带回家，带入我们的生活。自生产技术允许以来（最开始用于绘画的白色颜料许多都是有毒的），白色就被用在各式物品上。正如前文中提及，在技术尚不成熟时，白色被用来展示所有者的社会地位与财富。而当技术进一步得到发展之后，白色才真正以各种有趣的方式走进人们的日常生活。
Bowl with Arabic Inscription - From Iran, Nishapur. 10th Century (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)
发现于伊朗内沙布尔（纽约大都会博物馆）
Prunus Vase - Northern Song Dynasty. 11th - 12th Century (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)
北宋梅瓶（纽约大都会博物馆）
Dark-blue-glazed Plum Vase with White-dragon Pattern. Yuan Dynasty. (Yangzhou Museum, China)
扬州博物馆镇馆之宝 - 元朝霁蓝釉白龙纹梅瓶
White porcelain is enormously successful in playing an irreplaceable character in the history of human daily lives, which can be observed on all continents. The white color can both stand in the spotlight and an auxiliary role for the other decorative elements. In almost all different cultures, we can kind of see it emerges as itself in the first place, gaining decorative add-ons along the technological development, then returning back to its pure and minimalistic form every now and then.
白瓷可谓在人类日常生活的历史中成功扮演着无可替代的角色。白色既可以站在舞台中央，亦可作为完美的背景衬托其他装饰性的元素。在几乎所有不同的文化中，我们都能够观察到物件上白色作为一个元素本身的出现，随着技术进步各种装饰性元素的添加，以及不时回归到纯粹而极简的白色本身。
Molded Dish with Chrysanthemum Design, ca. 1650. Japan. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
菊花造型小碟
Hans Theo Baumann, coffee service Silhouette, 1959-60. Porcelain. Made by KPM, Germany.
From the book Hans-Theo Baumann, kunst & design 1950-2010. Via Arnoldsche Art Publishers.
Modern tableware set from the Danish superior porcelain brand Royal Copenhagen.
丹麦皇家哥本哈根高档白瓷餐具系列
Also in the modern age after the two industrial revolutions, white has been considered the go-to solution for almost all kinds of products we could see in our surroundings. White gives the feeling of clean, lightweight, and high quality without costing extra lots of money to produce. In some industries such as healthcare, white color is used very widely for the purpose of calming, presenting hygiene, and quality. With it being visually functional, the white color always touches the spot of softness in our hearts.
在两次工业革命后的现当代，白色也依旧被广泛用于所有我们所能见到的产品中。白色的产品在不增加额外生产支出的同时给人以清洁、轻盈和高质量的感官体验。在医疗健康等多个领域，白色更是特别被广泛使用，以作为安抚用户的同时体现产品质量与清洁度的工具。白色在视觉上的功能性，轻易就能触碰到我们内心柔软的角落。
Apple AirPods. The extremely successful Apple headphones only exist in white.
苹果公司史上最成功的耳机，只限白色。
White being a crucial part of clinical visual appearance, for the experience of both workers and patients.
白色的视觉表达对医护人员和病患的体验都非常重要。
Studying and growing as industrial designers, our generation is strongly influenced by the minimalist aesthetic and design methods. Coming from Asian cultural background, this trend perfectly matches the poetic and subtle part of our traditional mindset. White is of course a very present part of it throughout my school days and career so far. However, the trend does not mean using white would always be proper and safe. After absorbing its principle, we shall all consider carefully if it is a fit for all kinds of functional needs and brand requirements.
作为一名工业设计师，我们这一代人都被极简主义的审美与设计方法深深影响着。亚洲文化的微妙与诗意心境与此趋势完美吻合。白色也自然在我的学生与职业生涯中无处不在。然而趋势并不意味着使用白色就永远是对的。在学习吸收其精髓的基础上，我们需要认真考虑它是否符合各种产品功能和品牌的需求。
The home appliance product line from the Japanese brand Muji, art directed by Kenya Hara, one of the most praised and imitated designers. Pure white color is used widely for the brand.
由原研哉担任艺术总监的日本品牌——无印良品的家电系列产品。品牌众多产品使用纯白设计。
The signage system in Umeda Hospital, Japan. Using white cloth that can be washed as sheets and nurse uniforms, and is installed and removed by means of a zipper.
日本梅田医院的指示系统，采用可拆卸的白色布料，可像床单和护士服一样清洗。
A Japanese dry garden, using white gravel or sand that is raked to represent ripples in water.
日本园林枯山水，使用白色的碎石或沙来表现水的流动。
Despite difficult maintenance, successful white architecture and interior design were never rare in history and in modern life. White reflects simply all possible light colors, with different materials, however, in diverse extents, which makes pure white designs distinct from each other and so never boring.
虽然维护起来费时费力，白色的建筑与室内设计在古今中外不乏成功案例。白色反射所有颜色的光线，却因为材质的不同而有着不同的视觉效果，从而让同样是纯白的设计也能互相区分、丰富有趣。
The Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre, Paris. Completed in 1914. The white stone of Sacré-Cœur is a travertine limestone of a type called Chateau-Landon, which exudes calcite on contact with rainwater, making it exceptionally white.
巴黎蒙马特高地圣心堂，完工于1914年。外立面所采用的石灰华岩会在雨水作用下不断渗出方解石，以保证圣心堂即使在风化与污染的影响下依然保持白色。
Wat Rong Khun, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Designed, constructed, and owned by Chalermchai Kositpipat, a Thai visual artist in 1997. Various materials including glass, ceramic, and silver are used.
泰国清莱龙昆寺，由视觉艺术家许龙才设计并建造。使用了玻璃、陶瓷、银等多种材料制造。
White also makes the architecture more personal and less an object, it shows the vulnerable side of artificial constructions and softens them up regardless of the mass.
白色同时也让建筑更有私密感，它将人造架构的脆弱面展现无疑，即使是大体量的建筑也能够被软化。
Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, and completed by an Australian architectural team headed by Peter Hall, the building was formally opened on 20 October 1973. Tons of glazing ceramic tiles are used.
悉尼歌剧院，由丹麦设计师约恩·乌松设计，1959年动工，1973年正式落成。外壳为陶瓷材质。
The World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
由西班牙建筑师圣地亚哥·卡拉特拉瓦设计的纽约世界贸易中心车站。
Using white elements in a small and rather dark room at home brings more spaciousness to the living experience. Changing a dark brown carpet bravely to a rather white one, the whole floor would reflect more light instead of absorbing it, making the whole room brighter and less heavy. Combining with other materials such as mirrors and glass brings this effect even to the next level.
在家里相对狭小和昏暗的空间中使用白色的元素能让空间显得更宽敞。换掉深棕色的地毯大胆启用白色，它能够反射更多的光线，让房间更显明亮轻盈。与其他类似镜面与玻璃的材质相结合，更能将这个效果发挥到极致。
A small room can be brightened up by using white - bright colored furnitures and decorations.
小户型中选用白色或亮色的家具和装饰能够给空间带来通透感。
White is the main color of modern art galleries. The more empty space between the artworks, the more precious impression the pieces would give.
白色是当代美术馆的主色调，越是多的留白越是能使人感受到艺术品的价值。
If you have any artwork or collection you are proud to display, white background is also one of your best friends. The color is used in almost all modern art museums and galleries, serving as a background for the visitors to focus on the exhibition itself. Reserve some white space between each piece creates a higher-quality showcase, just like the white space on the dining plates in a star restaurant.
如果你有任何值得骄傲的艺术品或收藏品，白色的背景绝对是你最好的帮手之一。白色几乎被用在所有的当代美术馆和画廊里，作为背景色帮助参观者专注于艺术作品本身。各个展示品之间的留白空间亦是重要的提高展品品质的手段，就像高级餐厅中的摆盘艺术一样。
White space is also needed on the table for a fine dinner.
高级正餐也少不了白色的参与。
We love white so much that we would love to have them directly connected to our bodies. White clothes appear in almost every culture on all continents, interesting enough though, with their own different meanings and traditions built upon it. In the western world and in Japan, it is the color of the wedding. In China, on the contrary, it is worn at funerals and memorial services.
我们如此喜欢白色，以至于将它直接与我们的身体相连。 白色服饰几乎出现在各大洲的每一种文化中，有趣的是它们却有着不同的含义、表达着不同的传统。 在西方世界和日本，它是婚礼上所穿的颜色。 相反在中国的传统文化中，它是葬礼和追悼仪式上的主色调。
A Japanese bride walking towards the ceremony.
传统日本婚礼
Some random thoughts of a designer…
一个设计师的发想…
When is it white and when is it not? With this subtle experiment, I try to show the dependency and relativeness of the white color. All the matrix have the exact same saturation and brightness values but looks totally different on diverse backgrounds. “White does not exist in nature.” It is a precious color, unstable, fragile, and at the end of the day, only relative.
什么是白？通过这个微妙的实验，我尝试去展示白色的依赖性和相对性。 所有矩阵都具有完全相同的饱和度和亮度值，但在不同的背景上看起来完全不同。 “白色在自然界中不存在。” 它是一种珍贵的颜色，不稳定又脆弱，而且归根结底只是相对的。