Light Taxonomy

Any artist who deals with physical reality uses light to enhance the effect of the art. Lighting is a specialty in moviemaking, photography and any visual art. Architectural illustrators are no different. The choice of lighting, both natural and artificial, is central to directing the viewer’s attention. It is also the most powerful tool illustrators have for eliciting emotional response. 

During my career in architectural illustration, I was often directed by the client to give them a “happy” rendering: a bright light, a clear sky and a warm atmosphere. When the client was willing to take a different approach, I would often suggest something more unusual to catch the eye and sell the project. 

I developed the following categories of types of light through my own work. It is not a complete list and is not scientific in any way, but will perhaps be useful to other illustrators in their own work.

BEAUX ART LIGHTING

Munich Theatre Project by L Lange 1864

This is the go-to approach used for more than 200 years. Traditionally, it uses a midday sun coming over the observer’s left shoulder and casting a 45-degree shadow on any orthographic projection (plan, section or elevation) or one-point perspective. Of course, light coming over the right shoulder works just as well.

Rockcreek Building, Wash. DC, Ehrenkranz Eckstut Arch.

Fallingwater by FL Wright 1935

In a two-point perspective view, the light may strike one side of the building more directly than the other side, but the shapes of the building form are always strongly presented without ambiguity.

FRONTAL LIGHTING

This is a first cousin of Beaux Art lighting, albeit visually less clear and readable. It is essentially a sun directly above and behind the viewer, like a flash bulb held above the camera. It shows off the horizontal forms of a building, but often obscures the vertical elements.

US Post Office, Helena, MO 1898

Florida State Univ. Life Science Bldg. EMI Arch

Applied to a two-point perspective, the source of the light must be adjusted to help differentiate the major sides of a building. The building in Helena above has the sunlight slightly off to downplay the right façade.

DUSK LIGHTING

The Mysterious Stranger by NC Wyeth 1916

L Sullivan Building Detail, Pastel

The “golden hour” near sunset is a favorite time for many people because of its dramatic atmosphere. The warm horizontal rays of the sun create an emotional magic that is hard to beat. In my opinion it is a combination of Beaux Art and Saarinen lighting.

The Parthenon by F Church 1871

What dusk gains in drama, it loses in clarity and detail. While a freestanding building will tend to catch the sideways light over its entire façade, dusk in the city can provide an opportunity to emphasize one or another part of the building. The mystery inherent in this type of light is partly a matter of being vague in delineation; and details are often lost in the emotional flood.

SAARINEN LIGHTING

Woman with a Parasol by C Monet 1875

Helsinki Station Sketch by E Saarinen 1910

Named after the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, this approach is problematic but wonderfully dramatic. The viewer is practically looking into the sun. The building itself is mainly in silhouette, its details (doors, windows and ornament) delineated in a limited range of values, and color very subdued. 

Rockefeller Center by J Wenrich 1931

Algae Harvester Plant, Illus. Studio AMD 2010

Although an unusual approach, this has been used regularly since Saarinen made it acceptable. With this light it is best to start with a building that has an interesting silhouette, but as the Wenrich rendering above shows, the compositional possibilities can be quite interesting.

AMBIENT LIGHTING

Panama-Pacific Exposition by McKim Mead & White 1915

An overcast day gave the perfect light for the early photography of Beaux Arts buildings. The diffuse, scattered light rays softly modeled the building’s forms without extreme glare or dark shadows. 

Casa Italia Proposal by BBW Arch

Marino Pedestrian Bridge

Today ambient light is used less because of photographic limitations, and more to emphasize the building’s design. A colorful building may present well in diffuse light, or the atmosphere of mistiness may sell the idea in context. Indeed, the most radical ambient light idea might be a foggy-day view finished in pastel. 

FERRISS LIGHTING

Chicago Tribune Bldg. by H Ferriss 1925

Chapel in the Woods by E Fay Jones Arch. 1980

Hugh Ferriss was best known for his drawings of tall buildings lit by the new electric streetlights. The use of artificial lighting has the obvious advantage of flexibility. You can light up the area of the façade you want from any angle you want. During my career I used this lighting whenever I could get away with it.

Union Square South, NYC, oil pastel

Glass Cage Night View, computer tablet

There are several disadvantages and pitfalls in working with this type of light. Ferriss worked in charcoal, avoiding the problem of exaggerated color. He was a master craftsman, but sometimes fell into overdramatization. I myself occasionally allowed the illustration to slip into Halloween mode: ending up with a jack-o’-lantern. 

SPOT LIGHTING

Sherry Netherland Hotel, NYC

The Star by E Degas 1878

A variation on both Ferriss and Saarinen lighting is the spot light. An afternoon shower can often produce an opening in the clouds that lets a beam of sunlight fall onto the ground. A beam of light striking a tall building at the end of a stormy day is even more common. The artificial spot light needs no explanation.

laCledes Landing, St. Louis by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut Arch

A spot light suggests a rather small lit area, such as a building or part of a building. However, it can be used quite reasonably to light up a neighborhood or a large section of a city. 

CONFETTI LIGHTING

Yellow Umbrella Cafe, computer tablet

Finally, I have to note a type of lighting that crops up in a more limited context but is nevertheless a powerful image that is found in both urban and rural areas. Confetti (name stolen from James Gurney’s blog) lighting is a scattering of small light sources such as Times Square at night or the ground under a canopy of tree leaves. 

Mending the Sail by J Sorolla 1896

Confetti light can be found all around us. After all, the world is astonishingly diverse. In spite of this, confetti is of very limited use to architectural illustrators, and I include it out of personal fascination.

 

I could point out many more types of light, but this list covers the most common and the ones that I have used. Hopefully it will spark discussion and exploration in young illustrators.

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Addendum:

The idea for a taxonomy of light came from 2 pages in a book I've had for some time: The Photographer's Handbook, by John Hedgecoe. The two pages are shown below.

Inspiration - John C. Wenrich

John C. Wenrich (1894 – 1970) is one of the more obscure greats in architectural rendering. There is no book covering his life, and his rendering work is limited and scattered. In spite of this, the sense of atmosphere that he imbued into pencil and watercolor is unsurpassed. No survey of early 20^th century architecture is complete without noting his contribution.

He was born in Maryland, the son of a locomotive engineer (Whistler had similar parentage), and worked for a local architect before enrolling at the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (RAMI) in Rochester, New York. Being drawn to art, he went to New York City to study at the Art Students League, and after serving in France during World War I, spent 5 months at the University of Toulouse. Returning from Europe, he joined the firm of Gordon and Kaelber Architects as an illustrator, staying there until 1931. 

Oddly, it was during the Great Depression that his career took off. In 1930 he did renderings for the Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago. The illustration of the Tower of Water and Light (below) begins to suggest the atmospheric direction his art is going.

In 1932, on the strength of his work in Chicago, he was hired as an architectural renderer for the design team of Rockefeller Center. The following seven illustrations are pencil and watercolor views from those years.

This view from the east of the central tower was for me emblematic of what an architectural rendering should be. Although the viewpoint is impossible (buildings are in the way), the majesty of the image makes any objections irrelevant. 

This view of the project looking down Fifth Avenue cheats on the sun direction (he shows it coming from the north), but again, is forgivable considering the effect produced. His technique of subtle watercolor tones and practiced pencil texture is done with a sure hand.

This aerial view of the complex is less romantic than his other drawings, but it is a brilliant mix of atmosphere and information. The problem of differentiating the project from the surrounding urban fabric is handled with a strong but delicate tone and color change. This is another image that I kept in mind whenever working a similar job.

While the previous aerial took a viewpoint with the sun behind the viewer, this aerial looks directly into the sun. That Wenrich would take such an unusual view says a lot about his artistic daring. The effect is less informative than the previous rendering, but the abstract mystery of the result is worth the effort.

This view overlooking the sunken plaza at Rockefeller Center (famous for winter skating)illustrates Wenrich’s quick confident hand.

Above is another rendering where the viewpoint is inside an existing building. Any renderer who has worked on urban projects has encountered the same problem; a pedestrian simply cannot see a skyscraper set among other skyscrapers. It is fairly standard for the type, but the darkened main tower setting off the light block in the middle ground is interesting.

 I only have an uncolored copy of this view of Rockefeller Center, but the conceptual idea is quite tantalizing. The moon and car headlights mark this as a dusk view with the dying light illuminating the top of the building. Dusk is the time of day I love to capture, and I would absolutely love to see what Wenrich did with his colors here. 

This rendering of a Wall Street office tower, completed in 1935 is a long time favorite of mine. It places the ethereal tower above the old New York fish market, and makes them fit together perfectly. The morning light is pure New York, but the dissolving form is of an imaginary, almost fantasy Gotham. This rendering suggests the color tones that Wenrich might have used on the last Rockefeller illustration above.

As a comparison, the watercolor painting above is of the same building, but from a different viewpoint and painted with a completely different attitude. It is by Theodore Kautzky (noted below), who treated the subject as the basis for a vibrant exercise in color composition. Kautzky was know more for his views of existing buildings, and became a pure artist and teacher in his later life.

The Rockefeller Center work led directly into a gig for the New York World’s Fair of 1939. Wenrich, along with Theodore Kautzky, Hugh Ferriss and Chester Price were hired as "official delineators" of the fair. Each of the following four illustrations show a different side of his vision and art.

The Plaza Study, above, shows in detail what Wenrich had been doing (at street level) for Rockefeller. The crowd is believable, varied and yet holds together as a whole. Knowing his penchant for atmospheric drama, a “happy story” fair with flowers and flags is a real change.

This view across the water toward the silhouetted statue of George Washington is another change of pace for Wenrich. It reflects the poster art of the early century which emphasized blocks of color and texture, while de-emphasizing 3D forms.

This illustration of the Hall of Music seems to be a conscious tribute to Wenrich’s fellow “delineator”, Hugh Ferriss. The night view, spot lights, black and white technique and silhouetted crowd, all suggest “homage”. Unfortunately, the design in general is less than forgettable. 

This early study of the Metals Building at the Fair is curiously washed out from a distance, but plays a sophisticated game with warm and cool colors close up. It reminds me of Lebbius Woods’ work 50 years later. I doubt that there is any direct connection between this and Woods, but it does suggest a similar genius.

I have not found anything about Wenrich after 1940. He did work on the New York World’s Fair in 1964, but I haven’t found any drawings attributed to him from that work. By 1947 he was back at RAMI, now known as the Rochester Institute of Technology, teaching part time. I like to imagine that he decided to settle into a quiet life in Rochester, after the tumult of the big city with its big projects. He died August 16, 1970, just as I was enrolling in architecture school.

Sadly, that is all I’ve got on Wenrich (a few websites are noted below). Someday I hope that a well illustrated book will come out. But in any case, if he had only created the 2^nd and 9^th images above, he would still be on my list of heroes.

http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWPQASD4&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=1129

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/100239

http://library.rit.edu/findingaids/html/RITArt.0003.html

Inspiration - Jean-LeonGerome

Inspiration- The Dreams of Lebbius Woods

Inspiration- Sargent & Structures

Inspiration- Louis Sullivan & Ornamentation

Inspiration- Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue

Inspiration- Winslow Homer

Inspiration- Dore & value studies

Inspiration- Hugh Ferriss

Inspiration- Waterhouse & Color

Inspiration- Bierstadt & Atmosphere

Inspiration- John C. Wenrich

Inspiration - Cyril Farey