a full color electronic display device using two liquid crystal light valve image forming sources and having two optical paths is suitable for use in projection or direct view display applications . the two - path lclv device generates two separate , spatially coherent color images which are combined by additive spatial superposition to produce a single , full - spectrum , composite color image . one image is composed from a spectral band of light from the long and medium wavelength regions of the visible light spectrum , and is formed by a liquid crystal image forming source having a high resolution which determines the effective spatial resolution of the final image . the second image is composed from a spectral band of light from the short wavelength region of the visible light spectrum , and is formed by a liquid crystal image forming source having a resolution less than that of the red and green image , thereby producing a brighter blue light image . these two optical paths and their properties are nominally matched to the characteristics of the chromatic and luminance processing channels of the human visual system . the device produces bright , sharp , and high resolution full - color images using a relatively simple , more easily aligned optical system . the composite image may be either directly viewed or optically projected using a conventional projection lens assembly onto an intermediate viewing surface . several embodiments of the two - path liquid crystal light valve color display are described herein , each possessing specific features and advantages over existing electronic color displays .