Albert Henry Munsell

Albert Henry Munsell
Photograph of Munsell from A Color Notation
Born	(1858-01-06)January 6, 1858 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	June 28, 1918(1918-06-28) (aged 60) Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality	United States
Occupation(s)	Painter, Art Teacher, Inventor
Known for	Munsell color system
Children	A.E.O. Munsell

Albert Henry Munsell (6 January 1858 – 28 June 1918) 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 College of Art and Design, 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 colors. He wrote two books about it: A Color Notation (1905) and Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915). 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

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 Technology.
  • 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-Rite, 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.