By (after) Josef Albers
Located in Kansas City, MO
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square
(from "Son oeuvre et sa contribution à la figuration visuelle au cours du XXe siècle")
1972
Silkscreen Print in brilliant colors on wove paper
Image Size: 8.75 × 8.75 inches(22.23 × 22.23 cm)
Sheet Size (approx.): 10.5 × 12 inches (26.67 × 30.48 cm)
Framed Size: 13 × 13 × 0.5 inches (33.02 × 33.02 × 1.27 cm)
Unsigned; as published
Edition: ~1,500; not individually numbered
Published by Dessain et Tolra – 1972
Printed with an additional image verso as issued
Serigraphs by Herbert Geier, Ingolstadt, Germany &
Ives-Sillman, Inc., New Haven, Connecticut, USA
The Homage to the Square series is Josef Albers’s most celebrated and influential body of work, produced between 1950 and his death in 1976. Consisting of hundreds of paintings, the series explores the interaction of color through a deceptively simple compositional structure: nested squares arranged concentrically on a flat surface. Despite its geometric restraint, the work is fundamentally about perception—how colors shift, advance, recede, and transform in relation to one another.
Albers applied paint directly from the tube using a palette knife, avoiding visible brushwork to eliminate gesture and emphasize color relationships as the primary subject. Each composition is carefully calibrated, demonstrating how identical colors can appear dramatically different depending on their surrounding context. The result is a dynamic visual experience in which depth, vibration, and spatial illusion emerge purely through chromatic interaction.
The series reflects Albers’s theoretical contributions, particularly his seminal book Interaction of Color (1963), in which he articulated his belief that color is relative rather than absolute. Rather than expressing emotion through imagery, Albers invites the viewer into an active perceptual process, making the act of seeing itself the central theme.
Homage to the Square remains a cornerstone of modernist abstraction and color theory, influencing generations of artists, designers, and architects. Works from the series are held in major museum collections worldwide and continue to be studied for their rigorous investigation of visual perception.
Homage to the Square, Josef Albers square...
Category
1970s Abstract Geometric Prints and Multiples
