Nov 21, 2019 - Sale 2525

Sale 2525 - Lot 160

Unsold
Estimate: $ 25,000 - $ 35,000
JOSEF ALBERS
Duo H.

Machine-engraved Resopal laminate mounted on particle board, 1966. 129x345 mm; 5x13 5/8 (plate). Incised with the artist's signature, title and date verso. This work is registered with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Connecticut, as number 1976.8.1897.

Albers (1888-1976) is best known for his Homages to the Square works which he started painting in 1950 and continued to explore throughout his career. He began his career as a student at the Bauhaus and advanced to become one of the most influential teachers there by the time the school was forced to closed by the Nazis in 1933. The same year, Albers was invited to teach at Black Mountain College, a new experimental school in North Carolina. During his sixteen-year tenure at Black Mountain and eight years teaching at Yale University, Albers made a career in abstract painting which had a profound influence on young artists such as Donald Judd (see lot 136), Cy Twombly (see lots 123 and 124), and Robert Rauschenberg (see lots 169-179).

His works are defined by calculated color application and technical, rigid, simplistic forms. The combination of these elements produced optical effects which challenged the viewer's perception of optics and logic. In 1963, Albers published his book Interaction of Color (see lot 161) which is still considered among the most influential color theory texts today.