Draft:Farbe-Ton-Forschung (Color-Tone Research)

• Comment: Much of the article is unreferenced, including the entirety of the "current continuations" section. If the information can't be verified, it should be deleted, in order to uphold Wikipedia's policy on verifiability. Utopes _{(talk / cont)} 20:13, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

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Books and other publications of color-tone research

Color-Tone Research was a scientific and artistic movement that dealt with general multisensory and synesthetic perceptual phenomena. It developed in the 1920s in German-speaking countries and ended shortly before the beginning of the National Socialist era.

General Information

Main building of the University of Hamburg, the venue of the congresses for color-tone research. State in the year 2023

In 1925, the Hamburg professor of psychology Georg Anschütz initiated various activities to research the visual aspects of auditory perception. These efforts culminated in four interdisciplinary congresses on color-tone research in 1927, 1930, 1933 and 1936. These were the first specialist conferences in the world to combine synesthesia research with the exchange of experiences of synesthetically gifted people and with applications in art, music, design and education - a concept that today, but not till the turn of the millennium, has formed the standard for international synesthesia conferences. Numerous documents on colour-tone research can be found in three anthologies and other publications. These publications are the first to present extensive material on colour visualizations of synesthetic phenomena.

The first two congresses are documented in detail. In addition to the description and analysis of synesthetic perceptual phenomena mainly triggered by sound stimuli, successful attempts were made to bring together psychological research, music psychology, pedagogy and the visual arts. In the context of color-tone research, extensive source studies were also carried out and many hundreds of publications were evaluated.

In the 1930s, general questions came to the fore, particularly in connection with the development of film sound and music. The third congress of color-tone research was the world's first conference on the subject of sound film.

Congresses of Color-Tone Research

Poster for the second congress for color-tone research in 1930 by Rudolf Gahlbeck

Anschütz initially founded the Psychologisch-Ästhetische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (Psychological-Aesthetic Working Group) at the beginning of 1925, which was continued under the designation of Psychologisch-Ästhetische Forschungsgesellschaft (Psychological-Aesthetic Research Society) from 1927. Numerous experts were invited to give lectures in Hamburg. Anschütz also wrote a short introduction to make the field of research known to interested parties and the press.

Four congresses were initiated:

- March 2-5, 1927: documented with an abstract

- October 1-5, 1930: with detailed documentation in the 3rd volume

- October 2-7, 1933: “Tonfilm, Neue Bühne, Neue Musik” ("sound film, contemporary stage, contemporary music"): program printed in the 2nd volume, which was only completed later in 1936, but most likely never put on sale

- October 4-11, 1936: „Spitzenleistungen des deutschen und ausländischen Films – Film als Kunst unserer Zeit“ (“Top achievements of German and foreign film - film as the art of our time”): not documented in detail.

As no material has survived on the fourth congress, with the exception of a poster design by Rudolf Gahlbeck and a few vague references - e.g. in the obituary - it is not clear whether this event already took place in the planned form.

Topics and contributors

The “Color-Tone Research” events brought together numerous experts and interested laypeople from a wide range of fields. In addition, exhibitions of synesthetic images and objects as well as music and film screenings enriched the conferences. For example, an exhibition accompanying the first congress included around 2000 images and documents - this number was further exceeded at the second congress. A few contributors should be named here as examples:

Perception and Gestalt Psychology

Statistical evaluation of a survey on key colors by Heinrich Hein based on data from Anschütz, 1931 (Farbe-Ton-Forschungen vol. III, p. 264, plate K4)

The founder of colour-tone research, Georg Anschütz, wrote numerous psychological and pedagogical studies, in particular on Gestalt psychology, before specializing in the research of multisensory perception phenomena at the University of Hamburg. The psychologist Albert Wellek, who is considered the founder of modern music psychology, made contributions to the perceptual-psychological justification of musical notation, which he attributed to "Ursynästhesien" (primordial synesthesia), such as the connection between pitch and visual height. He also published an extensive study on absolute pitch, in which he describes, among other things, the identification of pitch on the basis of additionally perceived synesthetic colors

Musicology

Besides Wellek, Friedrich Mahling and Alexander Truslit were particularly prominent with regard to multisensory references in music perception. Mahling wrote the until then most detailed literature study on synesthetic perception, which takes into account many hundreds of studies and artistic treatises on visual synesthesia caused by auditory stimulation ("Farbenhören“, "hearing colors", "audition colorée"). Truslit's music pedagogical studies focus on the auditory perception of movement and its application in interpretative practice and postulate a law of movement (primordial movement) that every musical performance must satisfy. In the context of color-tone research, he attempts to demonstrate the contribution of movement perceived in music to the configuration of synesthetic musical images.

Pedagogy

“Door creaking” - student work from Rudolf Gahlbeck's art lessons, panel 3

Oskar Rainer, the founder of a method he called "Musikalische Graphik" ("Musical Graphics") also took part in the first congress. This methodology enhances the musical-artistic education of students and is still used in education today. Wilhelm Voß, a teacher of the blind, presented detailed studies on visual phenomena in blind people that were triggered by auditory or tactile stimuli. Heinrich Grahl, who developed associatively illustrated musical notation for children, and Gertrud Grunow, who advocated a multisensory theory of aesthetic harmonization at the Bauhaus, are also known to have been involved. Rudolf Gahlbeck and Walter Behm also presented works from art lessons at the congresses.

Painting and graphics

Static visualizations of sounds and music were presented by Max Gehlsen, Walther Behm, Rudolph Gahlbeck, Heinrich Hein, the printmaker Hugo-Meier Thur and the musicalist Arne Hošek, among others. These artworks served as a base for discussion of links between auditory and visual perception.

Light art, kinetism and film

Hugo Meier-Thur, Synaesthetic graphic for the music of “Isolde's Liebestod” from the music drama “Tristan und Isolde” by Richard Wagner, panel III, 1928

Early concepts of the dynamic visualization of music were presented as "Farblichtmusik" ("colore-light music") by Alexander László, as "Farben-Licht-Spiele" ("color-light performance") by Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, as kinetism by Zdeněk Pešánek and as music-related, abstract film by Oskar Fischinger. In the context of color-tone research, however, it was not so much the artistic concept that was discussed, but rather its significance for individual perception.

Relevance of synesthetic visualizations

The strictly individual phenomena of genuine (congenital) synesthesia are characterized by abstract shapes and colors that do not reveal any associative reference to the auditory stimulus. Associative elements, on the other hand, are to be classified as results of iconic reference that are anchored in the perceptual system of all people. The post-hoc analysis of published visualizations of music and sound shows that color-tone research initially focused on rare individual phenomena, while iconic content was later increasingly added, especially in school drawings and in connection with the newly developed sound film.

Appreciation and criticism

Max Gehlsen, Excerpt from the prelude of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" (R. Wagner), Farbe-Ton-Forschungen 1, plate 1/3

For the first time, the publications of color-tone research document the study of crossmodal phenomena on a large scale. The conferences were of supra-regional importance in German-speaking countries. They brought together different disciplines, in particular psychology, education, art and music. It became clear that crossmodal thinking leads to interdisciplinary approaches. The theoretical and artistic debate focused in particular on the visual relevance of auditory stimuli and provided the first approaches to systematic concepts for sound film.

However, attempts were made to draw conclusions from introspective observations of individual phenomena - according to current linguistic usage, these are genuine (congenital) synesthesias - to generally widespread processes of linking the sensory areas. This sometimes led to a lack of clarity in the conclusions drawn, e.g. in Anschütz 1931. Until today, however, the relationship between general processes and specifically synesthetic forms of perception has not yet been conclusively clarified. Therefore, the significance of genuine, individual synaesthesia for general perceptual processes is still controversial. A specific distinction between general and special phenomena has only been generally accepted since the 1990s.

Anschütz's precise individual studies of people with synesthesia are still of great interest today, as according to current knowledge, these perceptual phenomena are not - or only marginally - influenced by the external context. This also applies to the framework conditions of another time. Thus, the descriptions are still relevant today. The aforementioned analyses enrich the current discussion on singular characteristics of perception and neurodiversity.

Current continuations

The combination of different disciplines, in particular art, music, psychology, and pedagogics, which was first practised at the congresses of color-tone research, is now typical of international conferences on synesthesia research. Like their early predecessors, actual conferences integrate people with synesthetic perception. Some examples:

Spain: From 2005 - 2022 so far 7 events of the International Congress Synesthesia, Science & Art, organized by the Fundación Internacional artecittà/Jaen.

Russia: several Academic Conferences Polylogue and synthesis of arts, Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory; several Galeyev Readings, Prometheus Institute, Technical University Kazan; 2nd Symposium of the International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists, and Scientists (IASAS), Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, 2019.

Germany: Two events of the International Conference on Synaesthesia, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover MHH, Hannover, 2003 & 2006; additional meetings, e.g. 2008.

Austria: An international conference on synesthesia and music was organized for Vienna in 2020. Although the meeting had to be cancelled due to COVID, an informative abstract book exists.

Various associations of synaesthetically gifted people regularly organize scientific and artistic conferences, such as the American Synesthesia Association ASA, the UK Synaesthesia Association UKSA, and the Deutschen Synästhesie-Gesellschaft DSG.

In addition to research into the psychology of perception, new methods of brain research, such as brain scanning using fNMR, are now providing further impetus for understanding the connection between the senses.

The scientific and artistic efforts of color-tone research came to an abrupt end during the 1930s. The movement contradicted National Socialist ideas by combining modern Gestalt psychological approaches with developments in abstract art and reform pedagogy. After 1933, various contributors were forced to emigrate, died in the turmoil of war or were murdered (e.g. Hugo-Meier Thur). A few, such as Georg Anschütz, discredited themselves by cooperating with the Nazi regime. In his case, however, no documents are available that clearly indicate a National Socialist attitude during his life phase before 1934, when he worked on topics of psychology and synesthesia. However, the accusation of collaboration cannot be disputed. Apparently, he wanted to secure his academic position at the University, which he supported by some pro-regime remarks.

Anschütz archived the existing materials of color-tone research, whose abstract representations contradicted the National Socialist understanding of art, in the building of the University of Hamburg. This indicates that he hoped to be able to resume synesthesia research after the end of the dictatorship. This hope was not confirmed, as almost all the materials, pictures and texts were lost when the university was destroyed by Allied bombing raids in 1943. Anschütz himself was relieved of his duties after the end of the war.

Color-tone research marked an important step on the way to a fundamental understanding of multisensory connections in the perceptual system and to applications in art, design, music and education.