Josef Albers (1888-1976) - Interaction of Colors - XVIII-8

One-color screen print by German-American artist Josef Albers (1888 Bottrop - 1976 New Haven, CT), from his portfolio 'Interaction of Color' (1973), published by Josef Keller Verlag, Starnberg (ed.) on the kinship and influence of colors in themselves and on each other. Features: - From the portfolio 'Interaction of Color' (1973) - Serial number: XVIII-8 - 25 x 33 cm - Excellent condition (see photos, which are part of the description) - not signed, unnumbered - portfolio name and serial number on the back of the screen print - one screen print of the 1000 editions - handmade paper - Provenance: from the original portfolio 'Interaction of Color' and purchased at a reputable/renowned art auction (Germany) (!) Last page (in the photo) not included. This back only contains a pencil monogram of the title (no printed text). Extra information about Josef Albers: Josef Albers (1888–1976) was an influential German-American artist, designer, and art educator, best known for his groundbreaking research into color and perception. He began his career as a teacher at the Bauhaus in Germany, where he taught glassmaking, design, and visual theory. After the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazi regime, Albers emigrated to the United States in 1933. In America he became a key figure in modern art and art education. He taught at Black Mountain College and later at Yale University, where he influenced an entire generation of artists and designers. Albers believed that color is relative and dependent on its surroundings—a concept he explored systematically in his art and teaching. His best-known work is the series Homage to the Square (1950–1976), in which he investigated the interaction and illusions of color with simple geometric forms and carefully chosen colors. In addition to painting, Albers also worked in graphics, photography, and furniture design. His theoretical book Interaction of Color (1963) remains a standard text in art and design education worldwide. Josef Albers is regarded as a key figure in the transition from European modernism to postwar American abstract art. Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color is not a traditional color theory with fixed laws or schemes, but a fundamental investigation into how color is perceived. For Albers, color did not exist as an objective given: color is always relative and changes depending on its surroundings. His core conviction was that color “almost never is what it seems.” Instead of explaining colors through physics or color wheels, Albers began from the experience of looking itself. He found that color can only be truly understood through observation and experiment. Therefore he did not have his students paint, but work with colored paper: cutting, sliding, and comparing. The eye had to be trained, not memory. A core idea in Interaction of Color is that colors continually influence each other. When two colors sit side by side, they alter each other’s appearance. This principle of simultaneous contrast makes the same color appear lighter, darker, warmer, or cooler depending on the context. Thus a neutral gray can look cool beside red and warm beside blue, without the gray itself changing. Albers also demonstrated how color can deceive the eye. Two different colors can appear identical, while one color can masquerade as two distinct colors. These visual illusions were, for him, not tricks but proofs of how unreliable our perception can be. Color is not a fixed fact, but an event arising in the relationship between colors. He also explored how color transparency and spatiality can be suggested on a completely flat plane. Through careful color choices, a form can appear in front of or behind another, or a transparent effect can arise without actual transparency. This insight later proved especially influential in abstract art, graphic design, and architecture. Limitation played a crucial role in Albers’ method. By using fixed shapes and simple compositions—such as in his famous series Homage to the Square—he directed all attention toward the interaction between colors. Form was subordinate to perception. The book Interaction of Color, published in 1963, is structured with exercises, examples, and observations. It is not a theoretical handbook but a practical teaching tool that invites readers to look and discover for themselves. Its influence reaches to this day, from painting and graphic design to fashion, interior design, architecture, and digital interfaces. Albers’ enduring message is simple but radical: color is the most relative medium in art. To work with color is not to work with certainties, but with perception, context, and experience. Albers was connected with the following artists: Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, László Moholy-Nagy, Johannes Itten, Oskar Schlemmer, Theo van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian, Kazimir Malevich, Anni Albers, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, Agnes Martin, Ad Reinhardt, Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley, Sol LeWitt, Max Bill

Schätzpreis:€150

Alle Objekte ansehen vonCatawikioderKunst und Drucke