Professor Albert Munsell was an artist first, later a teacher and finally a color theorist. He developed basic underlying rules for system of color organization, primarily because he wished to bring a sense of order to his study of color. Munsell envisaged the study of color eventually becoming similar to the study of notes and harmony in music. The systematic method of being able to tell in advance how multiple elements would combine was appealing to him and he hoped to be able to categorize colors in this way using the visual properties of hue, value and chroma. Munsell discovered the three dimensional nature of color and it gave him the structure he was seeking for each individual color and it’s relationships to others. He published the core principles of his system in this book, A Color Notation, A Measured Color System, Based on the Three Qualities Hue, Value, and Chroma. Munsell’s system of color categorization has gained acceptance on an international scale in the intervening years. It can be found in reference books, dictionaries, text books for art students and material on photography and television production. Its application is evident in paintings, textiles and plastic products produced up to the present day. It is also held as the standard methods of color classification in the United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. His system has been widely used in color science and has been the object of scientific studies in its own right. This book contains charts, diagrams, descriptions and directions for the teacher and the student and as a work of enduring significance across all areas of artistic and everyday life, it demands to be considered.
