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Josef AlbersBorn in Bottrop, Germany, March 19, 1888.Died in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, March 25, 1976.  There are many well-written biographies of Josef Albers available online so I will offer just a little background. He was born and educated in Germany and was a student and then a teacher at the Bauhaus under Walter Gropius (1920-1933). When the Nazi Party came to power the Bauhaus was forced to shut down. Albers and his wife, Anni, left Germany in 1933 when the Bauhaus was closed because she was Jewish. He was invited to teach in the USA at Black Mountain College in Ashville, North Carolina. Obtaining US citizenship in 1939, Anni & Josef Albers lived and worked there until 1949 when they moved north to work at Yale. In 1970 they moved to New Jersey. He died in 1976. He was famed as a teacher of art and graphic design. He was a designer of furniture, crafts and also worked with glass. He is most famous for his theory of color and as an abstract artist he produced over 1,000 similar designs of "squares" that consisted of either three or four stacked squares with different colors or shades.  The series was entitled Homage to the Square. The pricing of these pieces is astronomical and has reached 1.5 million to 3 million Dollars at various auctions. Dozens of museums worldwide collect Albers' works including the Smithsonian Museum, Guggenhein, Albertina (Austria) and too many others to list. His theory on colors is about perception and how the eye is deceived by the colors in art depending upon the adjacent color(s). In the examples above and below notice how the colors interact and have an effect of each other. In the image ABOVE the three smallest squares are the same colors BUT the larger square (brown) seems to be different in the two designs, an illusion due to the different BACKGROUND colors. This color theory has a direct relationship to everything you see on the world wide web - ie: the background colors and font colors. With the right combination of colors words are easier to read while other combinations make it nearly impossible to read the words. This color theory is extremely important in printing and the use of color in advertising. In the example below, from Albers' book, the small squares on the left side and the right side are exactly the same color but they appear to be different due to the relationship with the adjacent colors. Your eyes are deceived from the real color.  For an extensive list of Albers' artwork in worldwide museums please visit the website of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation: Josef & Anni Albers Foundation Read the biographies of both Josef and Anni on the website of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation here: www.albersfoundation.org/alberses/biography To read more about Josef Albers you can start at this nicely written WIKIPEDIA page: Josef Albers on Wikipedia See more at the SMITHSONIAN Museum website: Artist Josef Albers Read more at Black Mountain College website: Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. See a selection of his works that include the Homage to the Square"  Read an excellent description and explanation of his art philosophy here. Read more about perception and Albers' theory of color here: The Magic and Logic of Color: How Josef Albers Revolutionized Visual Culture and the Art of Seeing |
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