“Abstraction is real, probably more real than nature” – Joseph Albers
Josef Albers (German-American, b. 1888–d. 1976) is often referred to as the Father of Color Theory. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Josef Albers was a painter, printmaker, photographer, and designer known as a key figure in the Bauhaus, for his innovations in Geometric Abstraction, and his explorations into the subjective experience of color. His abstract canvases employed rigid geometric compositions which emphasized the optical effects that were activated by his chosen color palettes. His seminal Homage to the Square series of the 1950s and ‘60s focused on the simplification of form and the interplay of shape and color. Albers was highly influential as a teacher, first at the Bauhaus in Germany alongside Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, and later with posts at Black Mountain College, Yale, and Harvard. He taught courses in design and color theory, and counted among his students such iconic artists as Eva Hesse, Cy Twombly, Richard Anuszkiewicz, and Robert Rauschenberg. In 1971, Albers was the first living artist ever to be honored with a solo retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is often cited among the progenitors of Minimalist, Conceptual, and Op art.