?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 30,000 - $ 50,000
JOSEF ALBERS Two oil studies for Homage to the Square.
Both oil on board, circa 1969. Both 605x605 mm; 23 3/4x23 3/4 inches. One cancelled with scored lines; the other with work notes in pencil and scratched into the pigment.
In 1969, Albers used both these works as shipping material to sandwich another smaller painting that a North Carolina collection was considering for acquisition. The two oil studies were preserved and the painting that Albers packaged with them was purchased for the collection. Contemporaneous documentation of the events accompanies this lot.
In a letter to the collection dated November 28, 1969, Albers discusses appropriate presentation for the oil painting under purchase consideration. He writes, "First I should like to advise you to keep my color sketch framed under glass. I have explained why I do my studies on blotting paper. Consequently the paint film is dry, brittle and porous and thus needs protection (varnish would deepen/better darken all colors)."
Exceedingly well preserved examples of two extremely scarce oil studies, showing Albers' working process and his preparation for more finished works.
