See more objects with the tag color theory, color system, color harmony, color wheel.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1915

  • Work on this object began.

2018

2025

  • You found it!

Book, Atlas of the Munsell Color System

This is a Book. It was published by Wadsworth, Howland & Co., inc., Printers.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives as part of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color.

It is dated 1915. Its medium is letterpress with collage on paper.

American painter and art educator Albert Munsell’s color system uses measured scales of hue, value, and chroma to create his “color tree”—an imperfect sphere based on “perceptually measured equidistance” that he determined using spinning color tops. The Munsell system was used by pioneers in colorimetry as a bridge connecting human visual perception with empirical data gathered by scientific instruments.

It is credited Gift of Walter Granville, Smithsonian Libraries, ND1492 .M96a.

Our curators have highlighted 6 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Color Wheel
  • oil paint on composition board.
  • Gift of Hilaire Hiler.
  • 1960-244-1

Its dimensions are

H x W (open): 29.2 × 66 cm (11 1/2 in. × 26 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108749909/ |title=Book, Atlas of the Munsell Color System |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=12 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>