Josef Albers
American, born Germany, 1888 - 1976Study for Homage to the Square: With a Veil, 1962
On view
Oil on board
Dimensions30 × 30 in.
Bequest of Mary Mallery Davis, 1990.13
By 1949, Joseph Albers, living in Black Mountain, North Carolina, had become an established artist and teacher. He began to create works that focused on the interaction of colors that would captivate him for the rest of his life. Study for Homage to the Square: With a Veil is part of this series. Albers believed that the careful analysis of these color relationships was sufficient as subject matter. Paintings from this series consist of colored squares, often of similar or related tones, nestled together in sizes that ascend or descend by hue. While the compositions of his Homage to the Square paintings, which he explored in depth, appear straightforward, the process was extremely complex, and one that Albers took great care to document. On the back of this work, Albers included a detailed list of the colors and paint varieties used in its production. His theories on color continue to be studied today.
Born in Germany, Albers had a rigorous education, studying at Berlin's Royal Art School, the School of Applied Art in Essen, the Art Academy in Munich and the famed Bauhaus in Weimar. In 1933, Albers immigrated to the United States, bringing both his own theoretical and art background and the aesthetics of his former colleagues at the Bauhaus.
