K-G (Homage to the Square)
Print
1966 (printed)
1966 (printed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Josef Albers became one of the most influential figures of the 20th century avant-garde. He worked in a variety of media but has become widely recognised through his later printed work, based on the exploration of colour.
In 1949 he wrote a definitive text on colour theory and soon after began work on the series of coloured squares and rectangles which came to dominate his work and which explored the idea of colour as an illusion, depending on context. "We do not see colours as they really are" he wrote "in our perception they alter one another" Although he began his experiments in this field with paint, he came to depend on the medium of screen-print because its reliably consistent evenness of colour could be produced very easily and with great speed.
In 1949 he wrote a definitive text on colour theory and soon after began work on the series of coloured squares and rectangles which came to dominate his work and which explored the idea of colour as an illusion, depending on context. "We do not see colours as they really are" he wrote "in our perception they alter one another" Although he began his experiments in this field with paint, he came to depend on the medium of screen-print because its reliably consistent evenness of colour could be produced very easily and with great speed.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | K-G (Homage to the Square) (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Colour screenprint on paper |
| Brief description | Josef Albers:Colour screenprint: K-G (Homage to the Square). 1966 |
| Physical description | square format image, with four different coloured rectangles placed symmetrically, one inside the other. Each is a different tone of yellow/ ochre. They are placed so that the borders of the squares in which they sit are roughly similar in relation to each other. The borders at the top are slightly wider than those at the sides and those at the sides slightly wider than those at the base. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Styles | |
| Production type | Limited edition |
| Copy number | 322/350 |
| Marks and inscriptions | A '66
K-G 322.350 (signed with the artist's monogram, and dated, in pencil and inscribed with title and number.) |
| Credit line | Given by the Josef Albers Foundation |
| Production | K-G was printed by Si Sillmann of Ives-Sillmann. Homage to the Square was the name given to a huge corpus of work, which Albers began making around 1950, based on a mathematically determined format of several squares, which appear to be overlapping or nested within one another. |
| Summary | Josef Albers became one of the most influential figures of the 20th century avant-garde. He worked in a variety of media but has become widely recognised through his later printed work, based on the exploration of colour. In 1949 he wrote a definitive text on colour theory and soon after began work on the series of coloured squares and rectangles which came to dominate his work and which explored the idea of colour as an illusion, depending on context. "We do not see colours as they really are" he wrote "in our perception they alter one another" Although he began his experiments in this field with paint, he came to depend on the medium of screen-print because its reliably consistent evenness of colour could be produced very easily and with great speed. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.56-1994 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
| Record created | February 27, 2009 |
| Record URL |
Download as: JSON
