New Discoveries in Color- Munsell and Hue Shift

Munsell, Ostwald, and Representational Painting

This is a rather technical bit of breakthrough in my research recently. Basically some color systems do a better job than others when it comes to aiding the work of realistic painters.

Painters who use the Munsell system have frequently mentioned the phenomenon of a shift in hues when applying strings of Munsell colors to represent an object in light and shadow. As an example, a paper by Paul Centore explores how Munsell can be used to identify a “shadow series” of colors that can be used to represent the path of a color through the color space from light into shadow. However there seem to be some deviances from the shadow series which slightly complicate its application.

One interesting difference between the Munsell system and other color systems is that Munsell hues stray from the dominant wavelength of a hue. However, systems like the Natural Color System (NCS) and especially the historical Ostwald Colour System closely follow the dominant wavelength for each hue.

My research has led me to study the Ostwald system in great depth, and I believe that its division of hues and arrangements of colours are superior to Munsell’s as regards painters, as the fidelity to the dominant wavelength is retained, and there is hence no need for hue shifts or hue spirals.

More to come!