Josef Albers – Homage to the Square

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Did you know that Josef Albers (March 19, 1888 – March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the basis of some of the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the 20th century?

I didn’t before but now I do … because I now have two Josef Albers prints in my house. (Air-Five!)

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So this is my house – well at least the entry way of my house and these are the two recently retrieved and framed Josef Albers prints that I picked up. My wife and I have been trying to decide for a loooong time (i.e. can’t agree) what to place on our walls … other than paint. The differences between my wife and I have more to do with priority than content so she suggested some Josef Albers prints.

Really?

We can afford something like that?

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As it turns out, we both are fans of abstract art and since our house is almost entirely brown and white, we really needed some strong splashes of color. Enter Albers Homage to the Square series of paintings. While accomplished as a photographer, printmaker, designer, and poet, Albers is probably best remembered for his work as an abstract painter and theorist. The Homage to the Square series of paintings was started in 1949 and over his life, Albers painted hundreds of these rigorous chromatic interactions with flat colored squares arranged concentrically.

I will admit that I had never heard of Josef Albers until my friend Morgan Satterfield over at The Brick House scored a numbered Josef Albers lithograph for $4.99 at a Goodwill shop. [sigh] Except hers is the real deal and mine is just a high quality reproduction.

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One thing that goes really far in my book is quality framing and I took these over to Aaron Brothers Art & Framing. They always do an amazing job and despite the frames and museum glass costing as much as the prints themselves, the quality of the frame job conveys the quality of the art. There are few things that make me sadder than seeing someone frame “art” with something cruddy – like old fence boards (I’ve actually seen that one) or nothing at all.

[Barf]

If you will indulge me a comparison – I tell people working in my office that the effort and care they put into their construction drawings sends a message to the contractor. You slap something together with little consideration or coordination and the contractor is going to think you don’t care if he actually pays attention to your content (because you obviously don’t).  But on the other hand, a well drawn and organized set of documents certainly sends a message that you care – care enough that the contractor realizes you will probably be paying attention to the work his is doing.  Framing your art properly is a little like that. Sorta.

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The type of art you have in your house says something about you … and the art on my fridge says something about my daughter. I know I have a long way to go still but this is a step in the right direction.

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even better stuff from Life of an Architect