Josef Albers Biography
Josef Albers (Bottrop, 19 March 1888 – New Haven, 26 March 1976) was a German painter. After studying painting in Berlin, Essen and Munich, in 1920 he entered the Bauhaus in Weimar. In 1925, when the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, he became a professor. In those years his works tried to subvert the static character of painting to highlight the instability of forms; to do this Albers repeats abstract geometric patterns, making use almost exclusively of primary colors. His creations from this period include prints, furniture designs, metalwork, but above all stained glass collages that allow continuous variations in light. Due to Nazi repression, the Bauhaus was forced to close in 1933. Albers then emigrated to the United States, where he became a citizen in 1939, where he taught in North Carolina until 1949. In 1950 he moved to New Haven to teach at Yale University, retiring from teaching in 1958. In these years Albers he concentrated on several series of paintings, made from similar geometric designs that give effects of ambiguity, whose aim is to systematically explore the effects of perception. His best-known series, “Homage to the Square” (series begun in 1949), is made up of simple repeated and overlapping squares, colored with different shades that create an optical effect of depth. Albers is also remembered as a theorist of abstract art: he held many conferences and published several books and articles in which he tried to investigate the intrinsic logic that governs colors. His theories had an important influence on generations of young artists, in particular forming the foundation of the abstraction of Op art. In his studies on optical art he collaborated with some Italian artists including Getulio Alviani. His work as a teacher allowed him to have among his students Richard Anuszkiewicz, Alan Fletcher, Eva Hesse, Robert Rauschenberg, Kenneth Noland, Robert Motherwell, Ray Johnson and Susan Weil. Albers continued to paint and write in New Haven with his wife, textile artist Anni Albers, until his death on March 26, 1976.
