Homage to the Square: Apparition by Josef Albers
Duo F by Josef Albers
Structural Constellation by Josef Albers
Untitled by Josef Albers
Homage to the Square: Joy by Josef Albers

Josef Albers

1888–1976 · German

Albers arrived at Black Mountain College in November 1933[7], unable to speak English. His wife Anni spoke on his behalf; she was fluent. They had fled Germany weeks earlier. Under the Nuremberg Laws, Anni, who was Jewish, was at risk. The Bauhaus had been forced to close. Philip Johnson, then a curator at MoMA, had arranged the position.

Key facts

Lived
1888–1976, German[7]
Movement
[7]
Works held in
32 museums[1]

Biography

He was born in 1888[7] in Bottrop, Westphalia, into a Roman Catholic craftsman's family. He worked as a schoolteacher for five years before deciding to study art, joining the Bauhaus as a student in 1920[7] and becoming a faculty member by 1922. He married Anni Fleischmann, a Bauhaus textile student, in 1925.

At Black Mountain, his students included Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Ruth Asawa, and Ray Johnson. He left in 1950[7] to head the Department of Design at Yale, where he taught until retirement in 1958. The teaching produced Interaction of Color (1963), a text arguing that colour can only be understood in context, never in isolation. It remains a standard reference.

The Homage to the Square series occupied the rest of his life: nested squares of colour, painted obsessively, with every pigment and proportion meticulously recorded. The paintings look simple. The colour relationships within them are not. He died in 1976[7].

Timeline

  1. 1888Born in Bottrop, Westphalia, Germany, into a Roman Catholic family of craftsmen. He received early practical training in glasswork, engraving, plumbing, and wiring.
  2. 1920At 32, enrolled at the Bauhaus in Weimar as a student. Within two years he was appointed to the faculty, teaching the preliminary course on materials and handicrafts.
  3. 1925At 37, promoted to professor when the Bauhaus relocated to Dessau. That same year he married Anni Fleischmann, a textile artist and fellow Bauhaus member.
  4. 1933At 45, emigrated to the United States with Anni after the Bauhaus closed under Nazi pressure. On the recommendation of Philip Johnson, he organised the art programme at Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
  5. 1950At 62, left Black Mountain College to become chairman of the art department at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. That year he began Homage to the Square, the series he would pursue for the rest of his life.
  6. 1963At 75, published Interaction of Color at Yale, a landmark treatise on colour perception that became one of the most influential art education texts of the twentieth century.
  7. 1971At 83, became the first living artist to receive a solo retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
  8. 1976Died at 88 in New Haven, Connecticut. The Homage to the Square series ultimately comprised over 2,000 oil paintings.

Notable Works

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Where to See Josef Albers

6 museums worldwide.

Plan your visit →

  • National Gallery of Art

    Washington, D.C., United States

    336 works
    Museum detailsMap

  • Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History

    Münster, Germany

    13 works
    Museum detailsMap

  • Whitney Museum of American Art

    Manhattan, United States

    6 works
    Museum detailsMap

  • Detroit Institute of Arts

    Midtown Detroit, United States

    5 works
    Museum detailsMap

  • Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

    Bentonville, United States

    2 works
    Museum detailsMap

  • RISD Museum

    Providence, United States

    2 works
    Museum detailsMap

Related Artists

Jim Dine

Jim Dine

1935–present · American

Paul Klee

Paul Klee

1879–1940 · Swiss

Giorgio Morandi

Giorgio Morandi

1890–1964 · Italian

Giorgio de Chirico

Giorgio de Chirico

1888–1978 · Italian

Arthur Dove

Arthur Dove

1880–1946 · American

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

1909–1992 · Irish

Plan your visit to see Josef Albers →

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Josef albers art movement?
    One passage mentions that Josef Albers's art evolved to have a primary emotional effect, sometimes closely tied to nature. His series, 'Homage to the Square', is mentioned as being totally different in effect, beauty, and interest.
  • What is josef albers known for?
    Josef Albers is known for his series 'Homage to the Square', which he worked on from 1950[7] onwards. He determined two formats and settled on the alignment of squares within a vertical symmetrical axis, creating a large series of oil paintings.
  • When did josef albers die?
    Josef Albers died in 1976[7] at the age of 88.
  • When did josef albers move to america?
    Josef Albers moved to the United States in 1933[7] after the closing of the Bauhaus.
  • Where did josef albers teach?
    Josef Albers taught at the Bauhaus, where he developed Vorkurs, an introduction to design. After moving to the United States, he headed the art department at Black Mountain College.
  • Who is josef albers?
    Josef Albers was born in Bottrop, Westphalia, Germany in 1888[7]. He studied art in various cities before becoming a professor at the Bauhaus.
  • Why was josef albers work important?
    The provided passages suggest Josef Albers strived for neutrality in his work, eliminating personal touches and stylistic tricks. He aimed to make his art as objective as possible.
  • What was josef albers color theory?
    One passage mentions that Josef Albers developed Vorkurs, an introduction to design based on the study of colour, texture, form, and line. However, there is no further information about his colour theory.
  • Where did josef albers live?
    Josef Albers was born in Bottrop, Westphalia, Germany. He later moved to the United States and headed the art department at Black Mountain College.
  • What was josef albers famous for?
    Josef Albers is famous for his series 'Homage to the Square'. He created a large series of oil paintings on hardboard, using a strictly regulated form with two formats and a vertical symmetrical axis.
  • What did josef albers do?
    Josef Albers studied art and became a professor at the Bauhaus. He also headed the art department at Black Mountain College after moving to the United States.
  • When was josef albers born?
    Josef Albers was born in 1888[7] in Germany. Josef Albers died in 1976[7], aged 88.

Sources

Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Josef Albers.

  1. [1] museum Hungarian National Gallery Used for: museum holdings.
  2. [2] museum Städel Museum Used for: museum holdings.
  3. [3] museum Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History Used for: museum holdings.
  4. [4] museum Cleveland Museum of Art Used for: museum holdings.
  5. [5] museum Whitney Museum of American Art Used for: museum holdings.
  6. [6] museum The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Used for: museum holdings.
  7. [7] wikipedia Wikipedia: Josef Albers Used for: biography, birth dates, death dates, identifiers, movement attribution, nationality.
  8. [8] book guggenheim-futurismmodernfo00solo Used for: biography.
  9. [9] book guggenheim-guhe00solo Used for: biography.
  10. [10] book Masterpieces of western art : a history of art in 900 individual studies from the Gothic to the present day Used for: biography.

Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-31. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.

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