Jorrit Tornquist (1938, Graz) is an artist and colour theorist.
He initially studied biology but switched to architecture. Tornquist started sculpting and painting, and since 1959 he has focused on an in-depth study of colour principles and colour effects.
In 1967, with Richard Kriesche and Helga Philipp, Tornquist signed the founding manifesto of the “Gruppo Austria”.
Later, he was part of Team Color Group (1972), Color Center of Tokyo(1974), and the Surya group (1977).
Tornquist studies colour from a scientific and ecological approach, based on accurate experiments on colour, density and clarity and analysing of the complementary effects. He focuses not only on the perception of colour as light but also on its functions in nature and its psychological effect on people.