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Munsell, Albert Henry

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Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

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Biography

Munsell was born on January 6, 1858, in Boston, MA, where his father was in the piano business. After high school he attended the Massachusetts Normal Art School in Boston. In 1879 he studied Ogden Nicholas Rood’s influential book Modern Chromatics. In 1881 he was named an instructor and later a lecturer at this school, positions he held for 25 years. He was awarded a scholarship that made it possible for him to study from 1885 to 1888 at the Académie Julian and the École nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and 1 year in Rome. After he returned he was an active painter of portraits and seascapes. In 1889 he received a patent for an adjustable artist’s easel. In 1894 he married Julia Orr, the daughter of a New York financier, with whom he had a son, Albert Ector Orr Munsell, and three daughters. Munsell died on July 28, 1918, in Brookline, MA [1].

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figure 1

Munsell’s schematic depiction of the color tree

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References

  1. Munsell, A. H.: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography 36, p. 316 (1950)

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  2. Munsell, A. H.: Color sphere and mount. US Patent No. 640,792 of 9 Jan 1900

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  3. Munsell, A.: Notebooks 1900–1918. Accessible at www.cis.rit.edu/research/mcsl2/online/munselldiaries.php. Accessed 15 Jan 2014

  4. Munsell, A.H.: Color and an Eye to Discern It. Self-Published, Boston (1907)

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  5. Munsell, A.H.: A Color Notation. Ellis, Boston (1905)

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  6. Munsell, A.H.: Atlas of the Munsell Color System. Ellis, Boston (1907)

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  7. Munsell, A.H., Cleland, T.M.: A Grammar of Color. Strathmore Paper, Mittineage (1921)

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  8. Berns, R.S., Billmeyer, F.W.: Development of the 1929 Munsell book of color. Color Res. Appl. 10, 245–250 (1985)

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  9. Wyszecki, G., Stiles, W.S.: Color Science, 2d edn. Wiley, Hoboken (1982)

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Further Reading

  • Kuehni, R.G.: The early development of the Munsell system. Color Res. Appl. 27, 20–27 (2002)

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  • Nickerson, D.: History of the Munsell color system and its scientific application. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 30, 575–585 (1940)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 4112 Blaydes Court, Charlotte, NC, 28226, USA

    Rolf Kuehni

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  1. Rolf Kuehni
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Correspondence to Rolf Kuehni .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Design University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

    Ronnier Luo

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Kuehni, R. (2014). Munsell, Albert Henry. In: Luo, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_307-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_307-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

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