Is there a better word for this than "value"?

Outside of the art world, "value" is primarily understood to mean "worth." Why does the art world persist in speaking of "value," when the maintenance of this convention chonically demands explanation? Even with explanations, using the word "value" frequently result in misunderstanding!

Is there any way to avoid these undesirable results?

Yes! Scientists refer to the same lightness-darkness phenomena, and never create the confusion with which we cope. They simply use the terms "luminance" and "luminosity" — interchangeable synonyms. Both are typically defined as "the condition or quality of emitting or reflecting light." "Luminance" and "luminosity" concern what is either self-generated or reflected light. Understanding that art speakers more typically employ "value" to reference the continuum of lightness / darkness of reflected light, when we speak of the "luminosity" of any passage in a drawing, painting or print, we are unbothered about whether the reader might think the surface is lit internally or from its back. We also posit that surfaces are generally "well lighted." Typically we are talking about the degree of a color's potential to reflect that light. Whenever we are discussing a work which emits its own light (backlighting, projection, incandescence, fluorescence, halogen, neon, laser, light-emitting diode, etc.), we are likely to observe and point out that fact, and consider other aspects of the work with this one in mind. In other words, in contrast to uses of the word "value," the potential for the L-word's causing confusion is comparatively negligible.

Indeed, a scientist (or photographer) measuring the potential of a surface to reflect light would speak of its luminance, unworried that the surface is not itself generating the light. instead, a scientist, would measure the surface's luminance in relation to the brightness (measured in lumens or candle-power) of the light cast upon it.

Every new word requires explanation, but "luminance" and "luminosity" have the advantage of coming from the Latin root lumen — light. This old word gave birth to the words luminous, luminary (a person who has achieved eminence in his / her field), illuminate, and illumination.

As a rule, ArtPage is descriptive of the meaning of words, and rarely prescriptive of what words should mean. I feel that ArtPage should point out some of the problems some words can get us into. This note presents an instance of such a tangle.

The clarity lost by the art world's clinging to its use of the word "value" instead of "luminance" is plainly problematic. The great advantage to shifting this paradigm is that whereas most English speakers understand "value" to mean worth, "luminance" has no other meanings at variance to the one we have intended to communicate when we have used the word "value."

- MRD

Let me know what your experince has been, and how you think about these issues!