Interaction of Color: 50th Anniversary Edition

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The Josef Albers papers, documents from 1929 to 1970, were donated by the artist to the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art in 1969 and 1970. In 1971 (nearly five years before his death), Albers founded the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, [45] a nonprofit organization he hoped would further "the revelation and evocation of vision through art". Today, this organization serves as the office for the estates of both Josef Albers and his wife Anni Albers, and supports exhibitions and 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." [46] A second, and substantial, part of the Josef Albers estate is held by the Josef Albers Museum in Bottrop, Germany, where he was born. [47] Both institutions continue active outreach to secure the artist's reputation. Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper: July 20 through October 14, 2012". The Morgan Library & Museum. 2012 . Retrieved February 16, 2022. All of this started because I like Louise Sugdens painting style and because I like Dazzle Patterns on ships, and so I began a small investigation into colour, in particular, into colour and mass/shape...

All color perception is really illusional,” Albers told the Associated Press a few months after the book first came out. “That’s the theme of my book.”Holland Cotter (July 26, 2012), Harmony, Harder Than It Looks – ‘Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper,’ at the Morgan The New York Times. The one word that to Josef Albers was absolute anathema was “self-expression.” He said you do not express yourself — you have to learn, you have to have these skills, and then you create something. Along the way, it has also served Yale Press and its mission: Titles that sell many copies help support the publication of books with scholarly or artistic significance but little commercial potential. Josef Albers Chronology". The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation. Archived from the original on August 14, 2021 . Retrieved January 8, 2021. On Albers’s intention with building not a theoretical treatise but a practical toolkit for understanding color:

Utilizing an expansive set of student-collected color strips cut from magazines (or a catalog of colored transparencies or even autumn leaves, pressed and laminated), it offers some loose guidelines for teachers to Socratically elicit from the students a growing appreciation of the mutability and subjectiveness of that "most relative of mediums - color." 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). [48] 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.” [49] Criticism [ edit ]The landmark 1963 book by Josef Albers . . . isn’t just for aspiring artists. Its mesmerizing illustrations are a revelation for anyone interested in color theory and human perception.”—Pilar Viladas, New York Times

One of the most beautiful books in the world. . . . Interaction of Color is not solely for artists, though generations of them certainly owe Albers a debt. It is for anyone who wants to get under the hood and understand why and how we see the world the way we do. . . . A visionary work.”—Malcolm Jones, Newsweek Albers and Morandi: Never Finished: works by Josef Albers and Giorgio Morandi (2021) David Zwirner Gallery, New York [44] Easy to know that diamonds are precious. Good to learn that rubies have depth. But more to see that pebbles are miraculous.The way that the most religious person has the mission of having other people believe in God, Josef wanted people to understand the magic of color relationships. Such great hopes sounds slightly pathetic today, but are not unusual for the time shortly before the “Summer of Love” and the promise of a better world that went hand in hand with it. And despite this, it is possible to defend them against the disappointing reality: Like a philosophical study which, counter to common practice today, only actually offers any added value if one single idea of your own arises thanks to it, “Interaction of Color” can be understood as an initial spark encouraging you to think for yourself, to think in color. Once those qualities that had been considered certainties start to crumble, then all the others fall apart like a house of cards: geometry, hence form, and several others going forward from here. Let's face it, this is one of THE essential 20th Century colour treatises, and the fact that a publication of this quality and educational value is now available at a price that could barely get you a meal for two at a decent restaurant, is really a cause for celebration. Weber, Nicholas Fox; Licht, Fred; Danilowitz, Brenda (1994). Josef Albers: Glass, Color, and Light (exh. cat., Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice). New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications. ISBN 978-0-8109-6864-6. 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 [ edit ] Homage to the Square [ edit ]