Josef Albers

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Josef Albers
Albers in front of one of his Homage to the Square paintings
Born(1888-03-19)March 19, 1888
Bottrop, Westphalia, Germany
DiedMarch 25, 1976(1976-03-25) (aged 88)
New Haven, Connecticut, US
EducationKönigliche Kunstschule zu Berlin, Königliche Bayerische Akademie der Bildenden Kunst, Bauhaus
Known forAbstract painting, study of color
Notable work
  • Homage to the Square (series), Structural Constellations, Glass Paintings
MovementGeometric abstraction
Spouse
​
(m. 1925)​
Websitehttps://albersfoundation.org/

Josef Albers (

craftsmanship, Albers received practical training in diverse skills like engraving glass, plumbing, and wiring during his childhood. He later worked as a schoolteacher from 1908 to 1913 and received his first public commission in 1918 and moved to Munich
in 1919.

In 1920, Albers joined the

glass, collaborating with established artists like Paul Klee. Following the Bauhaus's closure under Nazi pressure in 1933, Albers emigrated to the United States. He was appointed as the head of the painting program at the experimental liberal arts institution Black Mountain College
in North Carolina, a position he held until 1949.

At Black Mountain, Albers taught students who would later go on to become prominent artists such as Ruth Asawa and Robert Rauschenberg, and invited contemporary American artists to teach in the summer seminar, including the choreographer Merce Cunningham and Harlem Renaissance painter Jacob Lawrence. In 1950, he left for Yale University to head the design department, contributing significantly to its graphic design program. Albers' teaching methodology, prioritizing practical experience and vision in design, had a profound impact on the development of postwar Western visual art, while his book Interaction of Color, published in 1963, is considered a seminal work on color theory.[3]

In addition to being a teacher, Albers was an active

Time & Life Building in New York City. In 1970, he and his wife lived in Orange, Connecticut, where they continued to work in their private studio. In 1971, Albers was first living artist to be given a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[4] Albers died in his sleep on March 25, 1976, at the Yale New Haven Hospital after being admitted for a possible heart ailment
.

Biography

Josef Albers, Rosa mystica ora pro nobis, 1918 (reconstruction, original destroyed c. 1944)[5]

German years

Formative years in Westphalia

Albers was born into a

Franz Stuck.[9]

Entry into the Bauhaus

Armchair (late 1920s)

Albers enrolled as a student in the preliminary course (vorkurs) of

handicrafts
, because Albers came from that background and had appropriate practice and knowledge.

In 1925, the year the Bauhaus moved to

née Fleischmann) who was a student at the institution. His work in Dessau included designing furniture and working with glass. As a younger instructor, he was teaching at the Bauhaus among established artists who included Oskar Schlemmer, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee
. The so-called "form master" Klee taught the formal aspects in the glass workshops where Albers was the "crafts master"; they cooperated for several years.

Emigration to the United States

Black Mountain College

With the closure of the Bauhaus under Nazi pressure in 1933 the artists dispersed, most leaving the country. Albers emigrated to the United States. The architect Philip Johnson, then a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, arranged for Albers to be offered a job as head of a new art school, Black Mountain College, in North Carolina.[11] In November 1933, he joined the faculty of the college where he was the head of the painting program until 1949.

At Black Mountain, his students included Ruth Asawa, Ray Johnson, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Susan Weil. He also invited important American artists such as Willem de Kooning, to teach in the summer seminar. Weil remarked that, as a teacher, Albers was "his own academy". She said that Albers claimed that "when you're in school, you're not an artist, you're a student", although he was very supportive of self-expression when one became an artist and began on her or his journey.[12] Albers produced many woodcuts and leaf studies at this time.

Yale University

Josef Albers, Proto-Form (B), oil on fiberboard, 1938, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

In 1950, Albers left Black Mountain to head the department of design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. While at Yale, Albers worked to expand the nascent graphic design program (then called "graphic arts"), hiring designers Alvin Eisenman, Herbert Matter, and Alvin Lustig.[13] Albers worked at Yale until he retired from teaching in 1958. At Yale, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Eva Hesse,[14] Neil Welliver, and Jane Davis Doggett[15][16] were notable students.

In 1962, as a

fireplaces for the Rouse (1954) and DuPont (1959) houses, the façade of Manuscript Society
, one of Yale's secret senior groups (1962), and a design for the Mt. Bethel Baptist Church (1973). Also, at this time he worked on his structural constellation pieces.

Also during this time, he created the abstract

Command LP records. His album cover for Terry Snyder and the All Stars 1959 album, Persuasive Percussion, shows a tightly packed grid or lattice of small black disks from which a few wander up and out as if stray molecules of some light gas.[17] He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1973.[18] In 1970, Albers and his wife moved to Orange, Connecticut, where they continued to work in their private studio. Albers died in his sleep on March 25, 1976, at the Yale New Haven Hospital after being admitted for a possible heart ailment.[19]

Command Records

Josef Albers produced album covers for over three years between 1959 and 1961, Albers' seven album sleeves for Command Records incorporated elements such as circles and grids of dots, highly uncommon in his practice. "The series of records made by Command Records over half a century ago still resonate with audiophiles today, and are much sought-after by connoisseurs of mid-century modern design for their striking covers. This was all due to the collaboration between two individuals, Josef Albers and Enoch Light. Both men — one an influential teacher and artist, the other a stereo-recording pioneer — driven by strong convictions and passion for their respective crafts."[citation needed]

Works

Homage to the Square

Accomplished as a designer, photographer,

theorist. He favored a very disciplined approach to composition, especially in the hundreds of paintings and prints that make up the series Homage to the Square. In this rigorous series, begun in 1949, Albers explored chromatic interactions with nested squares. Usually painting on Masonite, he used a palette knife with oil colors and often recorded the colors he used on the back of his works. Each painting consists of either three or four squares of solid planes of color nested within one another, in one of four different arrangements and in square formats ranging from 406×406 mm to 1.22×1.22 m.[20]

Murals

Albers Wrestling (1977) in Sydney

In 1959, a

Celanese Building in Manhattan destroyed in 1980. At the invitation of a former student, the Australian architect Harry Seidler
, Albers designed the mural Wrestling (1976) for the Mutual Life Centre in Sydney.

Color theory

In 1963, Albers published Interaction of Color, which is a record of an experiential way of studying and teaching color. He asserted that color "is almost never seen as it really is" and that "color deceives continually", and he suggested that color is best studied via experience, underpinned by experimentation and observation. The very rare first edition has a limited printing of only 2,000 copies and contained 150

silk screen plates. This work has since been republished, and is now available as an iPad App.[26]

Color model representing Albers' color theory as described in Interaction of Color (1963)

Albers presented color systems at the end of his courses (and at the end of 'Interaction of Color') and these featured descriptions of primary, secondary and tertiary color, as well as a range of connotations that he assigned to specific colors on his triangular color model.[27]

In respect to his artworks, Albers was known to meticulously list the specific manufacturer's colours and

Op artists and conceptual artists further explored his interest in perception.[29]

In an article about the artist, published in 1950, Elaine de Kooning concluded that however impersonal his paintings might at first appear, not one of them "could have been painted by any one but Josef Albers himself.".[6]

Teaching and influence

Although Albers prioritized teaching his students principles of color interaction, he was admired by many of his students for instilling a general approach to all materials and means of engaging it in design. Albers "put practice before theory and prioritised experience; 'what counts,' he claimed 'is not so-called knowledge of so-called facts, but vision – seeing.' His focus was process."[31] Although their relationship was often tense, and sometimes, even combative, Robert Rauschenberg later identified Albers as his most important teacher.[32] Albers is considered to be one of the most influential teachers of visual art in the twentieth century.[33]

Noted students of Albers

Quotes of the artist

– "Every perception of colour is an illusion.. ..we do not see colors as they really are. In our perception they alter one another."[34] [c. 1949, when Albers started his first Homage to the Square paintings]
– "THE ORIGIN OF ART: The discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect. THE CONTENT OF ART: Visual information of our reaction to life. THE MEASURE OF ART: The ratio of effort to effect. THE AIM OF ART: Revelation and evocation of vision."[35] [1964, from his text "Homage to the square"]
– "For me, abstraction is real, probably more real than nature. I'll go further and say that abstraction is nearer my heart. I prefer to see with closed eyes."[34] [1966]
– "Art is not to be looked at. Art is looking at us.. .To be able to perceive it we need to be receptive. Therefore art is there where art meets us now. The content of art is visual formulation of our relation to life. The measure of art, the ratio of effort to effect, the aim of art revelation and evocation of vision.[36] [1968, in oral history interview with Josef Albers]
– "I made true the first English sentence [Albers came from Germany] that I uttered (better stuttered) on our arrival at Black Mountain College in November 1933. When a student asked me what I was going to teach I said: 'to open eyes'. And this has become the motto of all my teaching."[37] [1970, in 'A conversation with Josef Albers']

Exhibitions (not a complete list)

Solo

  • In 1936, Albers was given his first solo show in Manhattan at J. B. Neumann's New Art Circle.[38][39]
  • The Graphic Constructions of Josef Albers (Dec 8, 1969—Feb 24, 1970) MOMA, New York[40]
  • Josef Albers at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: An Exhibition of His Paintings and Prints (Nov 19, 1971—Jan 11, 1972) Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.[41]

Group

Posthumous

  • Josef Albers, 1888–1976 (Mar 26—Apr 19, 1976) MoMa, New York[43]
  • The photographs of Josef Albers: a selection from the collection of the Josef Albers Foundation (Jan 27—Apr 19, 1988) MoMa, New York[44]
  • Painting on paper – Josef Albers in America (2010) Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich;
    The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan. 80 oil works on paper, many never previously exhibited.[45]
  • Josef Albers (2011) Palazzina dei Giardini, Modena, Italy[6]
  • Albers and Heirs: Josef Albers, Neil Welliver, and Jane Davis Doggett (2014) Elliott Museum, Florida[16]
  • One and One Is Four: The Bauhaus Photocollages of Josef Albers (Nov 23, 2016—Apr 2, 2017) MoMa, New York[46]
  • Josef Albers in Mexico (Nov 3, 2017—Apr 4, 2018) Guggenheim Museum, New York[47]
  • Albers and Morandi: Never Finished: works by Josef Albers and Giorgio Morandi (2021) David Zwirner Gallery, New York[48]

Legacy

The Josef Albers papers, documents from 1929 to 1970, were donated by the artist to the

publications focused on the works of both artists. The foundation building is located in Bethany, Connecticut, and "includes a central research and archival storage center to accommodate the Foundation's art collections, library and archives, and offices, as well as residence studios for visiting artists."[50] A second, and substantial, part of the Josef Albers estate is held by the Josef Albers Museum in Bottrop, Germany, where he was born.[51]
Both institutions continue active outreach to secure the artist's reputation.

The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation offers three residency programs in three different parts of the world. They are located in Bethany, Connecticut; Carraig-na-gCat, Ireland; and Thread, Senegal. Residencies usually last between one and two months.[52]

In 2019, his "colossal" mural, Manhattan, was reinstalled at the Walter Gropius-designed 200 Park Avenue (Metlife) Building, New York, following an almost two decade absence. “While we appreciate its importance in the art community, it just doesn’t work for us anymore,” a Metlife representative is quoted as saying, at the time of its removal (2000).[53] Two decades later, the piece is once again being hailed as the vibrant centerpiece of the building, with the Albers Foundation's director on hand for the rededication of the work: “This is what art was for him: something that could affect you, maybe gave a little bit of joy to the lives of those people rushing to their trains or rushing out of the station to their workday.”[54]

Criticism

Josef Albers' book Interaction of Color continues to be influential despite criticisms that arose following his death. In 1981, Alan Lee attempted to refute Albers' general claims about colour experience (that colour deceives continually) and to posit that Albers' system of perceptual education was fundamentally misleading.

Lee examined four topics in Albers' account of colour critically: In additive and subtractive colour mixture; the tonal relations of colours; the

Weber-Fechner Law; and simultaneous contrast. In each case Lee suggested that Albers made fundamental errors with serious consequences for his claims about colour and his pedagogical method. Lee suggested that Albers' belief in the importance of colour deception was related to a misconception about aesthetic appreciation (that it depends upon some kind of confusion about visual perception). Lee suggested that the scientific colour hypothesis of Edwin H. Land should be considered in lieu of the concepts put forward by Albers. Finally, Lee called for a reassessment of Albers' art as necessary, following successful challenge to the foundational colour concepts that were the basis of his corpus.[55][56]

Dorothea Jameson has challenged Lee's criticism of Albers, arguing that Albers' approach toward painting and pedagogy emphasized artists' experiences in the handling and mixing of pigments, which often have different results than predicted by color theory experiments with projected light or spinning color disks. Furthermore, Jameson explains that Lee's own understanding of additive and subtractive color mixtures is flawed.[57]

Value on the art market

Several paintings in Albers's series Homage to the Square have outsold their estimates, including Homage to the Square: Joy (1964) which sold for $1.5 million (nearly double its estimate) at a 2007 sale at Sotheby's.[58] In 2015, Study for Homage to the Square, R-III E.B. (1970) sold for £785,000 (well above the estimated £350,000–450,000), at "the high point of an active market."[59]

Albers, a prolific artist, has numerous prints and drawings available outside of the museums where his work is represented.

The Albers Foundation, the main beneficiary of the estates of both Josef and Anni Albers, remains protective of the artist's work and reputation. In 1997, one year after the auction house, Sotheby's, bought the Andre Emmerich Gallery, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation did not renew its three-year contract with the gallery.[60] The Foundation has also been instrumental in exposing fakes.[6]

See also

References

  1. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 26, 2023. As a teacher and theoretician as well as a painter, Mr. Albers had a wide influence on several generations of artists [in the United States] and abroad.
  2. ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved November 25, 2023. [Albers] would become arguably the most influential art teacher in 20th-century America.
  3. ^ Heller, Steven (January 22, 2015). "When Bauhaus Met Lounge Music". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 25, 2023. [Albers] had a profound influence on the theory and practice of art and design—through his influential book 'Interaction of Color', but also in his classes at Black Mountain College, where he was the head of the art department, and Yale University, where he oversaw the department of design through an overhaul in curriculum in favor of rigorous exercises and an emphasis on detail.
  4. ^ Crichton-Miller, Emma (November 11, 2016). "Celebrating Bauhaus artists Josef and Anni Albers". Financial Times. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  5. ^ Albers, Josef (1917–1918). "Rosa Mystica Ora Pro Nobis (reconstruction 2011)". St. Michael's Church, Bottrop, Germany: Albers Foundation Facebook Page. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e Morris, Roderick Conway (October 21, 2011). "Making of a Bauhaus Master". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-03-29
  7. ^ "Josef Albers, Artist and Teacher, Dies". The New York Times. March 26, 1976. Retrieved 2020-03-29
  8. ^ de Melo, M. (2019) Mosaic as an Experimental System in Contemporary Fine Art Practice and Criticism. PhD Thesis: University for the Creative Arts; University of Brighton, p.111
  9. ^ Josef Albers Archived November 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville.
  10. ^ Holland Cotter (July 26, 2012), Harmony, Harder Than It Looks – ‘Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper,’ at the Morgan The New York Times.
  11. ^ Pepe Carmel (June 25, 1995), A Modern Master of Bottles, Scraps and Squares The New York Times.
  12. ^ Robert Ayers (March 29, 2006). "Susan Weil". Art+Auction. Archived from the original on March 8, 2008. Retrieved April 22, 2008.
  13. ^ Rob Roy Kelly (June 23, 1989). "Origins: Yale years". Retrieved February 9, 2010.
  14. ^ Jeffrey Saletnik (2007). "Josef Albers, Eva Hesse, and the Imperative of Teaching | Tate". Tate. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  15. ^ "Josef Albers and Heirs exhibit on view at The Elliott Museum in Florida". Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  16. ^ a b "Elliott Museum presents 'Albers & Heirs: Josef Albers, Neil Welliver, and Jane Davis Doggett'". Martin County Times. Martincountytimes.com. November 9, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  17. ^ Masheck, Joseph (December 2009 – January 2010). "ALBERS' RECORD JACKETS: Doing an Artful Job". The Brooklyn Rail.
  18. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
  19. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  20. ^ Josef Albers Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan
  21. ^ "Josef Albers Chronology". The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation. Archived from the original on August 14, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  22. ^ David W. Dunlap (June 17, 2002), Press 'L' for Landmark; Time & Life Lobby, a 50's Gem, Awaits Recognition The New York Times.
  23. ^ Carol Vogel (July 9, 2001), A Familiar Mural Finds Itself Without a Wall The New York Times.
  24. ^ "Josef Albers's Manhattan returns to its rightful place in the MetLife building". September 23, 2019.
  25. ^ Geismar, Daphne. "The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation". The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation.
  26. ^ "Interaction of Color on the App Store". Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  27. ISBN 978-0300018462
    .
  28. ^ Josef Albers: February 28 — March 27, 2007 Waddington Custot Galleries, London.
  29. ^
    ISBN 0-7537-0179-0
    , p469.
  30. ISBN 0-7537-0179-0
    , p470.
  31. ISSN 1753-9854
    .
  32. ^ Christopher Knight (May 14, 2008), Robert Rauschenberg, 1925 – 2008: He led the way to Pop Art Los Angeles Times.
  33. JSTOR 776486
    .
  34. ^ a b "Josef Albers - Wikiquote".
  35. ^ "Josef Albers - Wikiquote".
  36. ^ https://www.aaa.si.edu/download_pdf_transcript/ajax?record_id=edanmdm-AAADCD_oh_214202 [bare URL PDF]
  37. ^ "Josef Albers - Wikiquote".
  38. ^ Josef Albers Archived February 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
  39. ^ J.B. Neumann Papers in The Museum of Modern Art Archives
  40. ^ "The Graphic Constructions of Josef Albers | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  41. ^ "Notes". Homage to the Square: Soft Spoken. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1969.
  42. ^ "The Responsive Eye | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  43. ^ "Josef Albers, 1888–1976 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  44. ^ "The Photographs of Josef Albers: A Selection from the Collection of The Josef Albers Foundation | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  45. ^ "Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper: July 20 through October 14, 2012". The Morgan Library & Museum. 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  46. ^ "One and One Is Four: The Bauhaus Photocollages of Josef Albers | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  47. ^ "Guggenheim Museum Presents Josef Albers in Mexico". The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  48. ^ Schjeldahl, P. (2021). "Albers and Morandi". The New Yorker. Vol. v. 97, n. 2. p. 5.
  49. ^ The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation website Archived July 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  50. ^ The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation: Mission Statement Archived July 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  51. Fondation Beyeler
    , Riehen.
  52. ^ "Residencies". www.albersfoundation.org. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  53. ^ Stoilas, Helen (September 23, 2019). "Josef Albers's Manhattan returns to its rightful place in the MetLife building". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  54. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  55. ^ Lee, Alan. "A Critical Account of Some of Josef Albers' Concepts of Color." Leonardo (1981): 99–105.
  56. ^ Jameson, Dorothea. "Some Misunderstandings about Color Perception, Color Mixture and Color Measurement". Leonardo, vol. 16, no. 1, 1983, pp. 41–42. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1575043.
  57. ^ Jameson, Dorothea. Some Misunderstandings about Color Perception, Color Mixture and Color Measurement. Leonardo, vol. 16, no. 1, 1983, pp. 41-42. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1575043.
  58. ^ J.S. Marcus (December 18, 2010), Re-Examining a Famed Teacher The Wall Street Journal.
  59. ^ Crichton-Miller, Emma (November 11, 2016). "Celebrating Bauhaus artists Josef and Anni Albers". Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  60. ^ Carol Vogel (October 3, 1997), Sotheby's Loses Albers Estate The New York Times.

Further reading

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Joseph Albers.

Archives of American Art collection:

Works by Josef Albers

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