Albers studied at the Royal Art School (Berlin, 1913-15), The School of Arts and Crafts (Essen, 1916-1919), the Munich Academy (1919-20), and the Bauhaus (1920-23). from 1923-33 he was on the faculty of the Bauhaus. After the Nazis closed the Bauhaus in 1933, Albers moved to the US and taught first at Black Mountain College, one of the centers of the avant-garde movement in the US in arts and literature (1933-49), and then became the head of the design program at Yale. He became an American citizen in 1939.

Albers had done lithographs and woodcuts in Germany, but when he came to America, his focus shifted to painting, devoting most of his career from 1949 on to a long series of paintings called Homage to the Square. In the totally abstract works, a series of squares of different sizes is employed to study the effects of colors to react to neighboring colors by seeming to grow, contract, move toward or away from the viewer. In these works, he strove to achieve a totally flat surface and worked in families of related colors. His 1963 treatise, Interaction of Colors (Yale University Press, 1963) is a classic and his writing, teaching, and example had a major impact on op and geometrical art (Richard Anuszkiewicz, the leading American op artist, was his student at Yale; other students include William Bailey, Herbert Beerman, Robert Birmelin, Kent Bloomer, Varujan Boghosian, John Day, Robert Engman, Audrey Flack, Erwin Hauer, Melvin Leipzig, Richard Lytle, Beth Moffitt, Joseph Raffael, William Reimann, Stephanie Scuris, Robert Slutzky, Julian Stanczak, Lois Swirnoff and Neil Welliver).

Select bibliography: Josef Albers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: An Exhibition of His Paintings and Prints (NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971); Josef Albers, Josef Albers' White Line Squares (LA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1966); Josef Albers, Josef Albers: Homage To The Square (NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1964); Brenda Danilowitz, Prints of josef Albers: A Catalogue Raisonné (Manchester VT: Hudson Hills Press, 2002); Sam Hunter, Hugh M. Davies, Peter P. Morrin, Mary Laura Gibbs, and Neil A. Chassman, Josef Albers: Paintings and Graphics, 1917-1970 (Princeton: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1971); Fred Licht, Brenda Danilowitz, and Josef Albers, Josef Albers: Glass, Color, and Light (NY: Guggenheim Museum, 1995); Jo Miller, Josef Albers: Prints 1915-1970 (NY: Brooklyn Museum, 1973); Alan Shestack, Robert J. Koenig, and Nicholas Fox Weber, Josef Albers: His Art and His Influence (Montclair, N.J.: Montclair Art Museum, 1981, with appreciations by 20 of his former students including Richard Anuszkiewicz, William Bailey, Herbert Beerman, Robert Birmelin, Kent Bloomer, Varujan Boghosian, John Day, Robert Engman, Audrey Flack, Erwin Hauer, Melvin Leipzig, Richard Lytle, Beth Moffitt, Joseph Raffael, William Reimann, Stephanie Scuris, Robert Slutzky, Julian Stanczak, Lois Swirnoff and Neil Welliver); Wieland Schmied and Jurgen Wissman, Josef Albers (Cologne: Galerie Karsten Greve, 1989); Nicholas Fox Weber, The Drawings of Josef Albers (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984); Nicholas F. Weber, Josef Albers : A Retrospective (NY: Abrams, 1988).

WLS-XII (Gemini 13, JA66-1162). Original 3-color lithograph, 1966 published by Gemini GEL on Arches (21x21 inches) in an edition of 125 signed , numbered, titled, and dated impressions, of which ours is n. 64-125. The work is part of Albers' White Line Square series. Condition: excellent. Image size: 398x398mm. Price: SOLD.

I-S-d (Danilowitz 190). Original 3-color Screenprint, 1969 published in an edition of 125 signed , numbered, titled, and dated impressions, of which ours is n. 107/125. Printed at Sirocco Screenprints, New Haven; published by Ives-Sillman, New Haven. The work is another manifestation of Alber's use of the square to explore the way that the eye sees color. Condition: excellent. Image size: 350x350mm on 544x544mm heavy white coated paper. Price: SOLD.

Homage To The Square: Sentinel. Color silkscreen after a painting, 1967. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 188x188mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Park. Color silkscreen after a painting, 1967. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 188x188mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Saturated. Color silkscreen after a painting, 1968. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 188x188mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Between the Lines. Color silkscreen after a painting, 1967. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 188x188mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Solstice (1959). Color silkscreen after a painting, 1970. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 190x190mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Tremolo (1961). Color silkscreen after a painting, 1970. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 190x190mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Arctic Light (1963). Color silkscreen after a painting, 1970. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 190x190mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Ebbed (1967). Color silkscreen after a painting, 1970. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 190x190mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Votive (1968). Color silkscreen after a painting, 1970. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 190x190mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Homage To The Square: Profuse (1969). Color silkscreen after a painting, 1970. Published by the Sidney Janis Gallery. Edition unknown. The Sidney Janis gallery represented Albers and these silkscreens after his paintings were produced with his consent and under his supervision. Image size: 190x190mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

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