Josef Albers
Study for Homage to the Square: Blond Autumn
Date 1964
Medium Oil on masonite
Dimensions 81.3 x 81.3 cm
Inventory ID UID 102-009
The first study for Homage to the Square dates from 1949. The following year, Josef Albers devoted himself to a series of paintings on this theme, geometric compositions based on squares of different colours, asymmetrically enclosed within one another. He would create more than a hundred of these compositions in a series, always following the same process. Almost half of them have a subtitle which makes reference to the colours (Blue, White, Grey) or the series (R-I c4), or which has no direct relation to the painting (Guarded; Night Shadows; Balanced). The exhibition Josef Albers: Homage to the Square was organised by the MoMA in New York and Caracas in 1964 before travelling around several American museums. Homage to the Square emerged as a concretisation of all the research to which the artist had devoted his entire life. On the back of this study, he carefully noted the references to the four colours used, with the names of the brands, the varnishing technique and notes such as ‘straight from the tube’. AC
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York; Dunkelmann Gallery, Toronto; Private Collection, Toronto; Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York; Christie’s Auction, New York, 6 May 1986; Private Collection, Los Angeles; Sotheby’s Auction, New York, 9 May 1990; Gallery 44, Düsseldorf; acquired at Christie’s, London, 24 June 1993.