Josef Albers record album art 1958-62 (set of 4 works)
View Similar Items
Josef AlbersJosef Albers record album art 1958-62 (set of 4 works)circa 1959
circa 1959
About the Item
- Creator:Josef Albers (1888 - 1976, American, German)
- Creation Year:circa 1959
- Dimensions:Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:NEW YORK, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU35437497252
Josef Albers
The German-born American painter, writer, and educator Josef Albers was a pioneer of 20th century modernism, and an innovative practitioner of color theory. With his wife, the textile artist and printmaker Anni Albers (1899–1994), he shaped the development of a generation of American artists and designers through his teaching at the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina, and later at Yale University School of Art, where he was the chairman of the department of design from 1950–1958. Albers is widely known for his series of prints and paintings "Homages to the Square," which he created between 1950 and 1975. His influential volume on color theory The Interaction of Color was published in 1963.
Albers was born in Bottrop, Germany, and as a young man he studied art education, earning certification from the Königliche Kunstschule in Berlin in 1915. He entered the legendary Bauhaus school in Weimar in 1920. The Bauhaus had been established by Walter Gropius in 1919, in the immediate aftermath of World War I, with the hope that its innovative curriculum would foster connections between architecture, art, and traditional crafts. In 1923 Albers began teaching the Vorkurs, the introductory class in which new students learned to work with each of the key artists’ materials, along with color theory, composition, construction and design.
Albers was a polymath, and the multidisciplinary environment of the Bauhaus was fertile ground for his artistic ambitions. When the school moved from Weimar to Dessau in 1925, he became a full professor, and in addition to glass and metal, he designed typefaces and furniture. While at the Bauhaus, Albers drew inspiration from the work of his colleagues, the color theorist Johannes Itten, and the painter, photographer, and designer László Moholy-Nagy, with whom he co-taught the Vorkurs.
In 1933, the Bauhaus was shut down due to pressure from the Nazi Party, which perceived the school as being sympathetic to communist intellectuals. As Albers’ wife Anni was Jewish, the couple resolved to leave Germany, and settled in rural North Carolina. The architect Philip Johnson helped make arrangements for Albers to join the faculty of Black Mountain College as the head of the painting program, where he remained until 1949. While at Black Mountain, both Josef and Anni Albers became influential mentors to American artists including Ruth Asawa, Cy Twombly, and Robert Rauschenberg, while working alongside fellow professors Buckminster Fuller, John Cage, Merce Cunningham and William de Kooning.
In 1950, Albers joined the faculty of the Yale University School of Art where he would head the newly established Department of Design until his retirement in 1958. In the 1950s, the Alberses began taking trips to Mexico, where the colors and forms of the local art and architecture inspired both artists.
In 1971, Albers became the first living artist whose work was the subject of a solo retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Though they worked in different mediums, Josef and Anni Albers’ work shares a fascination with color and geometry. Josef Albers’ compositions from the "Homages to the Square" series, such as Formulation: Articulation Portfolio II Folder 28 (B), from 1972, give deceptively simple shapes a novel vibrance as colors play off of one another. The hues in Articulation Portfolio II Folder 28 (B) work in concert to give the flat surface the distinct appearance of a tunnel or other three-dimensional space; while the form on the left appears to move towards the viewer, the form on the right seems to lead directly into the canvas. Similarly, Anni Albers’ designs for textiles use graphic design to lend a sense of dynamism to flat works. Her Study for Unexecuted Wall Hanging (Bauhaus), from 1984 is a Mondrian-like pattern for a weaving in which different colors alternately recede and advance into the foreground, giving the image a sense of complexity and uncanny depth.
Josef Albers also created works of public art, including a delicate, geometric gold leaf mural called Two Structural Constellations for the lobby of the Corning Glass building in New York City in 1959. He designed a work called Two Portals for the lobby of the Time & Life Building in 1961, in which which and brown bands move towards two square panels made of bronze. Walter Gropius invited Albers to create a piece for the Pan Am Building, which he was designing with the architectural firm of Emery Roth & Sons. Albers reworked an existing glass piece from his Bauhaus days called City, and, fittingly, renamed it Manhattan.
Find a collection of authentic Josef Albers art on 1stDibs.
- Keith Haring Paris 1987 (Keith Haring Pompidou)By Keith HaringLocated in NEW YORK, NYKeith Haring Paris, 1987: Well-suited for framing, this vibrant oversized illustrated bag was designed by Keith Haring during his lifetime for the P...Category
1980s Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsPlastic, Offset, Lithograph
- Robert Rauschenberg Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues (new/sealed)By Robert RauschenbergLocated in NEW YORK, NYRare unopened Robert Rauschenberg designed Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues: In 1983, legendary pop artist Robert Rauschenberg designed the album cover for Talking Heads’ acclaimed...Category
1980s Pop Art Mixed Media
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Rare original Keith Haring Vinyl Record Art (Keith Haring Crack Is Wack)By Keith HaringLocated in NEW YORK, NYRare Keith Haring “Life is Fresh! Crack Is Wack!” 1987 sealed/unopened in its original shrink wrapping: A highly sought-after 1980s record album featurin...Category
1980s Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsOffset, Lithograph
- Basquiat Paintings 1981-1984 Fruitmarket Gallery Exhibition Catalog 1984By Jean-Michel BasquiatLocated in NEW YORK, NYJean-Michel Basquiat Paintings 1981-1984: Rare highly sought-after Basquiat exhibition catalog from 1984 published by The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Entitled: "Jean-Michel Basquiat: Paintings, 1981-1984" marked Basquiat's first solo museum exhibition & UK debut. The front and back covers feature original designs by Basquiat with two quotations inscribed on the back. The text and the image, according to Basquiat, was meant to be viewed as a singular composition. This major exhibition, which was organized by Mark Francis...Category
1980s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsOffset
- Signed Patti Smith CBGB punk flyer 1977 (Patti Smith group CBGB 1977)Located in NEW YORK, NYPatti Smith 78 Speed 1977: Rare original hand-signed flyer for Patti Smith Group shows at CBGB 1977. The flyer was designed by Patti Smith using one of her drawings at the time; with...Category
1970s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsOffset, Paper
- Basquiat Test Pattern 1979 (Basquiat Gray)By Jean-Michel BasquiatLocated in NEW YORK, NYJean-Michel Basquiat Test Pattern 1979: Basquiat created this flyer on the occasion of a performance by his band, Test Pattern (later renamed to ...Category
1970s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsOffset, Lithograph
- Toreros (4 Original Lithographs by Pablo Picasso and Jamie Sabartes)By Pablo PicassoLocated in New York, NYSabartes, Jaime Picasso – Toreros with four original lithographs Publisher: New York & Paris: George Braziller & Andre Sauret, 1961. First edition. Ha...Category
1960s Modern Mixed Media
MaterialsOffset, Lithograph
- La Conférence à la Sorbonne, 3 Juin, 1959, Lt Ed Silkscreen cover record albumsBy Yves KleinLocated in New York, NYYves Klein La Conférence à la Sorbonne, 3 Juin, 1959, 1959-1963 Two 12-inch vinyl records held in gatefold sleeve with silkscreen cover jacket in IKB International Klein Blue...Category
1960s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsPlastic, Mixed Media, Screen, Offset, Pencil, Board, Lithograph
- Pointing - Vintage Offset by Franco Gentilini - 1970sBy Franco GentiliniLocated in Roma, ITPointing is an original Vintage Offset Print on ivory-colored paper, realized by Franco Gentilini (Italian Painter, 1909-1981), in Late 20th Century. The state of preservation of th...Category
1970s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsOffset
- Figure - Original Offset by Franco Gentilini - 1970sBy Franco GentiliniLocated in Roma, ITFigure is an original Vintage Offset Print on ivory-colored paper, realized by Franco Gentilini (Italian Painter, 1909-1981), in 1970s. The state of preservation of the artwork is e...Category
1970s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsOffset
- Metamorphosis - Vintage Offset by Franco Gentilini - 1970sBy Franco GentiliniLocated in Roma, ITMetamorphosis is original photolithography offset on ivory-colored paper, realized by Franco Gentilini (Italian Painter, 1909-1981), in the 1970s. The state of preservation of the a...Category
1970s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsOffset
- Hand of Fire - Vintage Offset Print After Antoni Tàpies - 1982Located in Roma, ITHand of Fire is a vintage offset print after Antoni Tàpies, printed on hand made paper. It is one of the prints belonging to a deluxe edition of 1982 limited to 2.000 specimens, repr...Category
1980s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsOffset