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David Zwirner
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Josef Albers

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(1888 - 1976), Germany

Josef Albers (1888–1976) is considered one of the most influential abstract painters of the twentieth century, as well as an important designer and educator. Albers's artistic career, which bridged European and American Modernism, consisted mainly of a tightly focused investigation into the perceptual properties of colour and spatial relationships. Working with simple geometric forms, Albers sought to produce the effects of chromatic interaction, in which the visual perception of a colour is affected by those adjacent to it. Albers's precise application of colour also created plays of space and depth, as the planar coloured shapes that make up the majority of his works appear to either recede into or protrude out of the picture plane.

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Albers was born in Bottrop, Germany, and studied briefly at the Königliche Bayerische Akademie der Bildenden Kunst, Munich in 1919 before becoming a student at the Weimar Bauhaus in 1920. In 1922, Albers joined the school's faculty, first working in stained glass and, starting in 1923, teaching design. In 1933, he and Anni Albers emigrated to North Carolina, where they founded the art department at Black Mountain College. During their time at Black Mountain, Albers began to show his work extensively within the United States, including solo exhibitions at Addison Museum of American Art, Andover (1935); J.B. Neumann's New Art Circle, New York (1936, 1938); The Germanic Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge (1936); the Katharine Kuh Gallery, Chicago (1937); the San Francisco Museum of Art (1940); and the Nierendorf Gallery, New York (1941). The Alberses remained at Black Mountain until 1949, and in 1950 moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where Josef Albers was invited to direct a newly formed department of design at Yale University School of Art. In 1950, too, he developed what would become his seminal Homage to the Square series, which he continued to elaborate until his death in 1976. This body of work was featured in a major exhibition organised by The Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1964 that traveled to 22 venues in the United States and Latin America. Albers retired from teaching in 1958, just prior to the publication of his important Interaction of Color (1963), which was reissued in two volumes in 2013. Following numerous gallery and museum exhibitions, as well as his participation in documenta 1 (1955) and documenta 4 (1968), Albers became the first living artist to be the subject of a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his career-spanning retrospective there in 1971.

More recent exhibitions include Painting On Paper: Josef Albers In America, which originated at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, in 2010 (travelled to Josef Albers Museum, Quadrat, Bottrop, Germany; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Kunstmuseum Basel; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Centro de Arte Moderna, Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon; and the Morgan Library and Museum, New York); Josef Albers: Minimal Means, Maximum Effect, at the Fundación Juan March, Madrid, in 2014 (travelled to Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden, Norway); and A Beautiful Confluence: Anni and Josef Albers and the Latin American World at Mudec, Museo delle Culture, Milan, in 2015–2016. From 2016 to 2017, The Museum of Modern Art, New York held One and One Is Four: The Bauhaus Photocollages of Josef Albers. Josef Albers in Latin America was presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (through March 28, 2018). The Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is planning a major survey exhibition of the work of both Josef and Anni Albers for 2019. Since May 2016, The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation has been exclusively represented by David Zwirner.

Text courtesy David Zwirner.

Recent Exhibitions

Contemporary art exhibition, Josef Albers, Primary Colors at David Zwirner, Hong Kong, SAR, China Closed 18 January–5 March 2022 Josef Albers Primary Colors Hong Kong
Contemporary art exhibition, Group Exhibition, Seen in the Mirror: Things from the Cartin Collection at David Zwirner, 20th Street, New York, USA Closed 4 November–18 December 2021 Group Exhibition Seen in the Mirror: Things from the Cartin Collection 20th Street, New York
Contemporary art exhibition, Group Exhibition, PROGRAM Online Viewing Room at David Zwirner, Online Only, USA Closed 10–25 June 2021 Group Exhibition PROGRAM Online Viewing Room Online Only
Contemporary art exhibition, Albers and Morandi, Never Finished at David Zwirner, 20th Street, New York, USA Closed 7 January–27 March 2021 Albers and Morandi Never Finished 20th Street, New York
Contemporary art exhibition, Group Exhibition, Lìxià at David Zwirner, Hong Kong, SAR, China Closed 5 May–5 June 2020 Group Exhibition Lìxià Hong Kong
Contemporary art exhibition, Josef Albers, Sonic Albers at David Zwirner, 20th Street, New York, USA Closed 8 January–16 February 2019 Josef Albers Sonic Albers 20th Street, New York
Contemporary art exhibition, Josef Albers, Sunny Side Up at David Zwirner, London, United Kingdom Closed 13 January–10 March 2017 Josef Albers Sunny Side Up London
Contemporary art exhibition, Josef Albers, Grey Steps, Grey Scales, Grey Ladders at David Zwirner, 20th Street, New York, USA Closed 3 November–17 December 2016 Josef Albers Grey Steps, Grey Scales, Grey Ladders 20th Street, New York

Recent Artworks

Homage to the Square by Josef Albers contemporary artwork painting
Josef Albers Homage to the Square, 1969 Oil on Masonite
40.6 x 40.6 cm
David Zwirner Contact Gallery
Homage to the Square by Josef Albers contemporary artwork painting, works on paper
Josef Albers Homage to the Square, 1970 Oil on Masonite
40.6 x 40.6 cm
David Zwirner Contact Gallery
Study for Tautonym by Josef Albers contemporary artwork painting, works on paper
Josef Albers Study for Tautonym, c. 1944 Oil on blotting paper
38.7 x 54.3 cm
David Zwirner Contact Gallery
Homage to the Square by Josef Albers contemporary artwork painting
Josef Albers Homage to the Square, 1963 Oil on Masonite
40.6 x 40.6 cm
David Zwirner
Patzcuaro (Anni Albers, Patzcuaro, Mexico) by Josef Albers contemporary artwork photography
Josef Albers Patzcuaro (Anni Albers, Patzcuaro, Mexico), 1940 David Zwirner Contact Gallery

Josef Albers In Ocula Magazine

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John Yau Connects Three Asian American Modernists Ocula Conversation John Yau Connects Three Asian American Modernists By Stephanie Bailey, New York

John Yau describes the lives and works of three overlooked figures of modernism: Leo Amino, Minoru Niizuma, and John Pai.

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Ten Decades, Nine Works From Art Basel's OVR:20c Ocula News Ten Decades, Nine Works From Art Basel's OVR:20c London, 27 October 2020

The digital showcase of 20th century art takes place from 28–31 October.

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What Sold for Over $1 Million at Art Basel Online? Ocula News What Sold for Over $1 Million at Art Basel Online? London, 23 June 2020

Prices didn't reach the heights of the physical fair in 2019, but over a dozen works exceeded the million dollar mark.

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Galleries Augment Basel Online With Clicks-and-Mortar Exhibitions Ocula News Galleries Augment Basel Online With Clicks-and-Mortar Exhibitions Berlin, 16 June 2020

In Berlin, where the pandemic permits, digital viewing rooms are being remade offline. Elsewhere, galleries are mounting ever richer online presentations.

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Ocula Magazine Read More (5) In Ocula Magazine

Josef Albers In Ocula Advisory

Bianca Chu Curated Selection Bianca Chu 29 March 2021

Bianca Chu selects works that reflect her interest in art that extends beyond the visual realm.

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Josef Albers In Related Press

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LOOSE CANON Related Press LOOSE CANON 21 October 2019, ARTFORUM

IN JUNE, NEW YORK'S MUSEUM OF MODERN ART WENT DARK to put the finishing touches on its contentious five-year expansion, which promised to put $450 million and 47,000 square feet of Diller Scofidio + R

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The Colors of the Sixties Related Press The Colors of the Sixties 6 April 2019, Hyperallergic

The eighth floor of the Whitney Museum of American Art, as David Breslin, the Director of the Collection, sees it, is 'a place for surprises.' The elegant spaces of the museum's top floor, catching

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Albers opens eyes to Mexico Related Press Albers opens eyes to Mexico 28 February 2018, The New Criteron

It is possible that society has never been more poorly prepared than in the present cultural moment to appreciate an artist like Josef Albers (1888–1976). The German-American painter's deliberate, in

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Homage to Mexico: Josef Albers and His Reality-Based Abstraction Related Press Homage to Mexico: Josef Albers and His Reality-Based Abstraction 14 December 2017, The New York Times

Art rarely thrives in a vacuum. It is by definition polyglot and in flux, buffeted by the movement of art objects, goods and people across borders and among cultures, and also by individual passion. T

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Related Press Read More (10) In Related Press
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