Facts about Josef Albers

1. 08

   German-born artist Josef Albers emigrated to the United States in 1933 after the Nazis closed the Bauhaus, becoming a pivotal figure in American modernism.

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2. 07

   At Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Josef Albers taught from 1933 to 1949 and mentored artists including Robert Rauschenberg, cy Twombly, and Ruth Asawa during the school's most creatively fertile period.

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3. 06

   In 1976, at age 88, Josef Albers completed Formulation: Articulation, a two-volume portfolio containing 127 silkscreen prints exploring geometric abstraction and color relationships.

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4. 05

   His 1950 portfolio Homage to the Square contained 80 silkscreen prints exploring how colors interact within nested geometric forms.

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5. 04

   The Bauhaus apprenticeship system required Josef Albers to spend his first year learning glasswork, metalwork, and other crafts before being allowed to teach design theory to students.

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6. 03

   Albers's 1963 book Interaction of Color featured 150 color studies printed on specially prepared papers to demonstrate simultaneous contrast principles.

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7. 02

   During his 16 years teaching at Yale University from 1950 to 1966, Josef Albers created the foundational series Interaction of Color, which became one of the most influential art education books of the twentieth century.

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8. 01

   Between 1923 and 1933, Josef Albers taught at the Bauhaus school in Dessau, Germany, where he developed his influential color theory courses.

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