Josef Albers Exhibition

As a pioneering voice in the diffusion of modern art and design, Josef Albers's contributions to printmaking, color theory and pedagogy cannot be overstated.

Along with his wife Anni, with whom he taught at the Bauhaus in Germany, Black Mountain College in North Carolina and Yale University in Connecticut, Albers showed the way forward for generations of students and educators disseminating the gospel of European modernism in America. In addition to his considerable influence as a teacher, Albers was also a prominent color theorist and abstract artist. His long-lived series of paintings and prints, Homages to the Square, is largely the subject of Josef Albers: Innovation and Inspiration, a new show at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC, which owns one of the largest collections of his work. Spanning some 50 years, the exhibit will serve as a primer for those new to Albers's work, and a nice reminder for those who know it well. For either a first glimpse, or a refresher course, have a look at this slideshow of Josef Albers's sublime work. The exhibit at the Hirshhorn opens February 11th.