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Josef Albers

  • About
  • Works in the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection
  • Further Reading

Black and White image of  Josef Albers

Josef Albers in his Orange, Connecticut studio, 1969
Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002
Photographer: William Crutchfield

Initially, Albers had been sceptical about using lithography; he believed the process could not match the luminosity that he achieved in his painting series Homage to the Square, which he had begun in 1950. Albers termed this series of paintings (which includes On an early sky of 1964) 'platters to serve color' - where colour combinations interact to effect different 'readings'. To achieve these effects with White Line Squares, a perfect fine white line was created by leaving the white paper exposed without any bleeding of the inks. The series became the visual expression of Albers' thesis:

A white line within a color area instead of as a contour may present a newly discovered effect—when the line is placed within a so-called 'Middle' color, even when the color is very evenly applied, it will make the one color look like two different shades or tints of that color.

When Albers was in his mid 80s, he produced with Tyler the series of colour screenprints, Gray Instrumentation - in which all the inks were printed directly onto the white of the paper, without overlap, to achieve subtle hues and luminosity. Such an exercise required a perfect system of registration in screenprinting, as well as perfect colour matching.

Jane Kinsman

Works in the Kenneth E Tyler Collection


  • Josef Albers

    Never before e
    1976

  • Josef Albers

    Yellow: from the portfolio Mitred Square
    1976

  • Josef Albers, Gemini G.E.L.

    White embossing on gray IV
    1971

  • Josef Albers

    White line square VIII
    1966

  • Josef Albers, Gemini G.E.L.

    White line square III
    1966

Browse all works by Josef Albers

Further Reading


EXHIBITIONS

  • Lichtenstein to Warhol: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, 2019–20
  • Print by print, step by step: artists’ prints in series, 9 March – 16 June 1985
  • Ken Tyler: printer extraordinary, 6 June – 13 October 1985

NATIONAL GALLERY PUBLICATIONS

  • Lichtenstein to Warhol: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman, exhibition catalogue, 2019
  • Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman (ed.), 2015
  • The Art of Collaboration: The Big Americans, Jane Kinsman, exhibition catalogue, 2002
  • Ken Tyler Printer Extraordinary, 1985

TYLER GRAPHICS PUBLICATIONS

  • Never Before, 1976
  • Mitered Squares, 1976
  • Four Portfolios, 1974-76
  • Gray Instrumentation I, 1975
  • Gray Instrumentation II, 1974
  • Lithographs Gemini G.E.L., 1968

RELATED LINKS

  • Albers Foundation

Related


The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

Between the sheets of ‘Gray instrumentation II’

Black and white photo of Josef Albers in his studio with his ‘Homage to the square’ paintings

The Kenneth Tyler Collection team look back at Albers’s relentless investigation of shades grey and share the poetry that interleaved the portfolio.

Read Time 12 minutes
The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

Installing ‘Frank Stella: The Kenneth Tyler Print Collection’

Photograph of Frank Stella: The Kenneth E. Tyler Print Collection at the Orde Poyton Gallery

A comprehensive inside look at Frank Stella: The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

Read Time 4 minutes
Exhibition

Hockney Masterworks in Paint / Stella & Tyler Masterworks in Print

Past Exhibition

14 Oct 1999—26 Jan 2000

The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

The prints of Anni Albers: line involvements

Colour photograph of Anni Albers and Kenneth Tyler in the studio

Julia Greenstreet, Curatorial Assistant, Kenneth Tyler Collection, reflects on the prints of renown artist Anni Albers.

Read Time 23 minutes

Hardy Hanson

Black and white photograph of Hardy Hanson

One of 77 artists who collaborated with master printer Kenneth Tyler.

The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

Frank Stella: The Kenneth Tyler Print Collection

Photograph of Frank Stella: The Kenneth E. Tyler Print Collection at the Orde Poyton Gallery

‘Frank Stella: The Kenneth Tyler Print Collection’ shares the full trajectory of Frank Stella’s innovative printmaking career.

Read Time 6 minutes

Yuuma, Gurruburri

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