I’m a regular follower of artist Robert Genn’s The Painter’s Keys blog. Recently, he posted an interesting letter to his readers entitled “Are Women Superior?” Among the other interesting advantages women have over men, Robert points out the proven advantage we women have in perceiving minute variations in color.
Robert writes, “According to X-Rite (the people who supply Munsell colour products), 1 out of 255 women and 1 out of 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency. They’ve provided a free colour test online that you can access here…Results range from 0 (top score) to about 90 (colour dunce). ”
Curious, I took the test and scored 11 – not technically genius, but enough to make me want to brag! That made me muse…
If we women are naturally better equipped to be artists and, as Robert points out, are better at focusing and networking, how come we’re not usually more confident than men?
What is your score? Do you trust your innate artistic abilities, and if not, what’s holding you back?
Oh, and remember…
“Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.”
Timothy Leary
“You can’t change a man. Unless he’s in diapers.”
Mary Bennett
“Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men”
Joseph Conrad
I scored 32. I had to use a Munsell color chart once on an archaeological Earthwatch project in Thailand. Man, it was tedious. We had to match the color of pottery shards to a representative color on the Munsell soil color chart. It was very hard to make a decision sometimes. Congratulations on your score of 10, I’m impressed!
Hi Helen,
Robert Genn, the talented artist whose blog I follow, scored a 40. So you still did better than him! (And the fact that he scored that score and is still a successful artist means that the color recognition is still only a part of what makes an artist…but you knew that already!)
I’m enjoying TWO whole days off at Saratoga. We’ve been doing 7 shows a week, along with 3 rehearsals per week, so I’m ready for a break.
Hope you are doing well!
Joana
I scored a 15 yesterday, and a 7 this morning!!!! (Feeling competetive, as always…)
That’s competItive. I couldn’t retract the previous comment, as I saw my error only after I’d posted.
N
Hi Nina,
Congratulations! Robert Genn posted a follow-up post where he mentioned that most people found that they did better when they retook the test. I believe that the average score for the woman who took the test and wrote in to tell him their scores, was around 38. We’re way ahead of the curve. (However, my husband scored an 18…not too far behind us genius ladies.)
How are things in lovely Twin Cities? Hope you are having the same nice weather we are having here!
🙂 Joana