Albert Henry Munsell
Encyclopedia
Albert Henry Munsell was an American
painter, teacher of art, and the inventor of the Munsell color system
.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, attended and served on the faculty of Massachusetts Normal Art School, and died in nearby Brookline
.
As a painter, he was noted for seascapes and portraits.
Munsell is famous for inventing the Munsell color system, an early attempt at creating an accurate system for numerically describing color
s. He wrote three books about it: A Color Notation (1905), Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915) and one published posthumously, A Grammar of Color: Arrangements of Strathmore Papers in a Variety of Printed Color Combinations According to The Munsell Color System (1921). The Munsell color order system has gained international acceptance and has served as the foundation for many other color order systems, including CIELAB
. In 1917, he founded the Munsell Color Company
.
Munsell’s son, A.E.O. Munsell, continued to popularize Munsell's color system after his death
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painter, teacher of art, and the inventor of the Munsell color system
Munsell color system
In colorimetry, the Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three color dimensions: hue, value , and chroma . It was created by Professor Albert H...
.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, attended and served on the faculty of Massachusetts Normal Art School, and died in nearby Brookline
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
.
As a painter, he was noted for seascapes and portraits.
Munsell is famous for inventing the Munsell color system, an early attempt at creating an accurate system for numerically describing color
Color
Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
s. He wrote three books about it: A Color Notation (1905), Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915) and one published posthumously, A Grammar of Color: Arrangements of Strathmore Papers in a Variety of Printed Color Combinations According to The Munsell Color System (1921). The Munsell color order system has gained international acceptance and has served as the foundation for many other color order systems, including CIELAB
Lab color space
A Lab color space is a color-opponent space with dimension L for lightness and a and b for the color-opponent dimensions, based on nonlinearly compressed CIE XYZ color space coordinates....
. In 1917, he founded the Munsell Color Company
Munsell Color Company
The Munsell Color Company was an American manufacturer of color references and teaching materials. It was founded by Albert Henry Munsell in 1917, to popularize and monetize his Munsell color system. In 1942, the board of the company sold its assets and created the Munsell Color Foundation with...
.
Munsell’s son, A.E.O. Munsell, continued to popularize Munsell's color system after his death
External links
- Albert Munsell was an alumnus and member of the faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design
- Munsell Color Science Laboratory at Rochester Institute of TechnologyRochester Institute of TechnologyThe Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
.- Short biography of Professor Munsell
- A. H. Munsell Color Diary, 1899-1918. Scans of Munsell's diaries, showing his changing ideas about color.
- Munsell products at the website of X-RiteX-RiteX-Rite, Inc. is a manufacturer of color matching products, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Their products include those used for matching paint colors. They also create products that regulate quality in the processing of film and x-rays....
, current owners of the Munsell Color Company.
Patents
- U.S. Patent 417,831. Artist's Easel. December 1889.
- U.S. Patent 640,792. Color-Sphere and Mount. January 1900.
- U.S. Patent 686,827. Photometer. 19 November 1901.
- U.S. Patent 717,596. Spinning-Top. 6 January 1903.
- U.S. Patent 824,374. Color Chart or Scale. June 1906.