Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1964. 30 x 30 in. Tate Gallery, London


4 squares of yellow nest together. Despite a rigid format, they float freely, creating an optical illusion of another dimension. Each area has been painted in a single color. The paint has been applied with a knife, directly from the tube.
Joseph Albers was born in Bottrup, Holland in 1888 and died in New Haven, CT in 1976. Between 1920-23, Albers studied at the famous Bauhaus school. He joined the staff in 1923. He is from Holland but moved to the USA in 1933, where he taught many established artists at the Black Mountain College and Yale University. His influential book The Interaction of Color was published in 1963. In this he explores the perception of color, which was a dominant theme throughout his life. (Butler, Van Cleve, Stirling)



**Apologies for the quality of this photo... after several attempts, I just couldn't get a clear one!**

2 comments:

Paula Villanova said...

I had the opportunity to see "Homage to the Square" at the Guggenheim in the 70's and I didn't get it...I then took a color theory course in college and it all made sense...would love to see that exhibition again!

artslice said...

How very cool... I've never seen his work in person but had plenty of his theory in art school!