Joseph
Albers

1888−1976

Biography and information

Josef Albers (Josef Albers, March 19, 1888, Bottrop, Germany - March 25, 1976, New Haven, Connecticut, USA) - American artist and teacher of German origin, who formed the basis of the programs of art education of the twentieth century in the United States and Europe. Albers was born into a family of artisans, worked for several years as a schoolteacher, then an engraver, and was engaged in the manufacture of stained glass windows. In 1920, he entered the preparatory course at Bauhaus, and after three years the founder of the school, Walter Gropius, suggested that he conduct his own course on handicrafts. After the Nazis closed the Bauhaus, Albers emigrated to the United States, where he began to teach painting again, including at Yale University. He was a talented designer, engraver, photographer and poet, but entered the history of art as an abstract artist and theorist. The most popular works of Albers were paintings from the huge long-term series "Dedication to the square." In them, he investigated the interaction of different colors and shades with the help of squares placed inside each other.