| Maker(s): | Albers, Josef
| | Culture: | American born Germany (1888 - 1976)
| | Title: | Homage to the Square - MMA-2
| | Date Made: | 1970
| | Type: | Print
| | Materials: | screenprint in four colors on Mohawk Superfine Bristol paper
| | Place Made: | United States
| | Measurements: | sheet: 24 1/2 x 24 3/8 in.; 62.23 x 61.9125 cm; image: 15 1/16 x 15 1/16 in.; 38.2588 x 38.2588 cm
| | Narrative Inscription: | unsigned, undated, titled at left center: JOSEF ALBERS, HOMAGE TO THE SQUARE: MMA-2, printed at lower left: Easy to know that diamonds are precious good to learn that rubies have depth but more to see that pebbles are miraculous J.A., printed at lower right: In Commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
| | Accession Number: | SC 1983.44.2
| | Credit Line: | Gift of Priscilla Paine Van der Poel, class of 1928
| | Museum Collection: | Smith College Museum of Art
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Description:
concentric red squares
Label Text:
“What counts here – first and last – is not so-called knowledge
of so-called facts but vision – seeing.”
– Josef Albers, Interaction of Color (1963)
The grandfather of Minimalism, Josef Albers was a prolific painter, printmaker, designer, and teacher who illuminated the importance of astute perception and restrained expression. Formerly a teacher at the Bauhaus in Germany, Albers profoundly influenced twentieth-century American art as a teacher at Black Mountain College and Yale University. His famous color course took a radical approach to the application of color in art and design. Rejecting traditional theory, Albers stressed that color is inherently unstable and dependent on its relationship to adjacent colors. He taught his students, many of whom later became influential artists in their own right, to trust their vision and use color in experimental ways.
In 1961, Albers began making prints inspired by his famous Homage to the Square paintings, which use his standard square composition to display the visual effects of innumerable color variations. Working with master printers to execute his graphic works, the artist relished the meticulous and collaborative printmaking process. Since Albers’s prints required precise execution, printers were often driven to create new technical approaches to satisfy his needs. Master printer Kenneth Tyler, of Gemini G.E.L. and Tyler Graphics Ltd., worked with Albers on many of his prints and subsequently worked with many Minimalist artists.
In his screenprints and lithographs, Albers found a technical means to negate the artist’s hand and create images which are arguably more inexpressive than their hand-painted cousins. Albers believed that removing all evidence of expression creates a more powerful visual impact. In Homage to the Square – MMA-2, Albers constructs a subjective experience for the viewer, who perceives each shade of saturated red ink in relation to its adjoining colors. It is an endless exercise of subtle comparison.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1983.44.2 |
