I-S LXXa (Homage to the Square)
Print
1969 (made)
1969 (made)
| 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 planographic print processes, particularly screen-print, because through them consistent evenness of colour could be produced 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 planographic print processes, particularly screen-print, because through them consistent evenness of colour could be produced easily and with great speed.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | I-S LXXa (Homage to the Square) (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | colour screenprint |
| Brief description | Josef Albers: I-S Va..I. Colour lithograph.1969. |
| Physical description | a set of nesting yellow squares, each of a different hue. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Production type | Limited edition |
| Copy number | 12/125 |
| Marks and inscriptions | A' 70 I-S LXXa (Homage to the Square)
12/125 (Signed dated , inscribed with title, and numbered, all in pencil. Blind stamped with the publisher's mark.) |
| Credit line | Given by the Josef Albers Foundation |
| Production | I-S = Ives Sillman. The prints designated 'I-S' were published by Ives Sillman. They were part of an open-ended series lettered 'a', 'b', 'c' etc. for identification.Both I-S LXXa and I-S LXXb were published on the occasion of the artist's 80th birthday. These were the first of pairs of birthday prints which Albers made to commemorate his birthday from 1970-1973. The others were LXXIa & b, LXXIIa & b and LXXIIIa & b |
| 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 planographic print processes, particularly screen-print, because through them consistent evenness of colour could be produced easily and with great speed. |
| Associated object | |
| Bibliographic reference | Catalogue Raisonne: Nicholas Fox-Weber [Ed.] Brenda Danilowitz: The Prints of Josef Albers 1915-1976. Hudson Hills Press, New York. 2006. Cat. no. 197 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.61-1994 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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