Albert Henry Munsell

Albert Henry Munsell (born January 6, 1858 in Boston , Massachusetts , † June 28, 1918 in Brookline, Massachusetts ) was an American painter and art teacher who became known for his color system. The Munsell Color Order System ( Munsell color system ) is in use in Anglo-American countries to this day.

Live and act

Many painters of his time had the goal of creating a system that would make the work of color composition and clear color identification easier for them. Munsell produced color samples for this purpose, which were to be summarized in a color catalog . First of all, in keeping with the times , he started with the ideal body of the sphere, but with his experience as a painter he quickly identified discrepancies. Therefore, he now put his perception on the shape of the color body and arranged the material samples equally spaced , that is, the distance between neighboring color samples was perceived as uniform throughout the system. Munsell spoke of a "color tree", ie a color tree .

All color samples are clearly described by an alphanumeric designation, which makes the color "transportable".

On the recommendation of "American Standards" Munsell's system was elevated to the standard for surface colors. It became the basis of further research by the Optical Society of America (OSA). The International Commission on Illumination (Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage, CIE) also used Munsell's work for the CIE standard valence system (tristimulus system) from 1931. In the 1940s, the Munsell catalog was measured using colorimetric methods and then improved on a few samples "Munsell Renotation".

A year before his death Munsell had founded the Munsell Color Company , which exploited the commercial rights and continues its work; today the company belongs to X-Rite.

Munsell is less well known in Germany, where Wilhelm Ostwald in particular worked with the same objective .

A literary exploitation of his person can be found in the novel "Shades of Gray" by the author Jasper Fforde, which was first published in Great Britain in October 2010, and about a year later in Germany under the title "Grau".

Works

A Color Notation (1905)
Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915)

Individual evidence

^ Albert H. Munsell & The Munsell Color Theory | Munsell Color System; Color Matching from Munsell Color Company. June 14, 2012, accessed August 7, 2016 .

personal data
SURNAME	Munsell, Albert Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American painter and art teacher
DATE OF BIRTH	January 6, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH	Boston , Massachusetts, USA
DATE OF DEATH	June 28, 1918
Place of death	Brookline (Massachusetts)

[1] Albert H. Munsell & The Munsell Color Theory | Munsell Color System; Color Matching from Munsell Color Company. June 14, 2012, accessed August 7, 2016 .