Outline

Josef Albers (1888–1976) was a painter, designer, and educator. Born in Germany, he studied at the Bauhaus, where he later became professor in charge of basic courses. After the school was shut down, he moved to the United States and taught at Black Mountain College as well as at Yale University, training important artists in postwar America.

Albers stated that the purpose of his classes was to “open eyes.” He did not simply teach knowledge; he assigned students exercises and encouraged them to think with their hands. He wanted them to discover the new possibilities of color and materials through such investigation. Albers himself continued to explore throughout his life. The result is an astonishingly diverse oeuvre, from the glass works of his Bauhaus period, to furniture and tableware designs, to the painting series “Homage to the Square.”

The first ever retrospective of Albers in Japan, this exhibition presents his work with photographs and films of his classes, as well as works by his students, examining his career both as an artist and an educator.
 

*The display will vary according to the periods (Period 1: July 29–September 18; Period 2: September 20–November 5)

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Highlights

１．The artist’s first ever retrospective in Japan, organized with the full support from the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, this exhibition features approximately 100 paintings and related documents, including works never before shown in Japan.


２．The exhibition highlights not only Albers as a painter, but also as an educator, presenting photographs and films of his experimental classes, as well as works by his students. 


３．A workshop space will be set up in the gallery where visitors can try their hand at the exercises Albers assigned. Experience the lessons that captured his students’ imagination.

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Chapters

Chapter 1
Bauhaus: Economy of Materials ^{_{（1920–1933）}}

Albers was actively involved with the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, first as a student and later as an instructor until the school shut down. As a teacher, Albers was primarily responsible for the preliminary course in form-making that preceded specialized training. Today, Albers is especially known for his work with color, but his consistent emphasis in the classroom was on understanding the properties of materials and learning how to work with them efficiently. At the Bauhaus, he also taught in the glasswork studio and furniture workshop, where he designed furniture, tableware, in addition to creating glass works.

Chapter 2
Black Mountain College: Art and Life ^{_{（1933–1949）}}

Soon after the Bauhaus closed, Albers was invited by the newly founded Black Mountain College, and moved to the United States with his wife, Anni. The school aimed to offer a liberal arts education, with art as a central part of its curriculum. In this new environment, Albers began to incorporate more advanced exercises into his classes, such as using natural objects as materials. During some fifteen years he spent there, he also engaged in abstract painting and printmaking, an important period that paved the way for his later development.

Chapter 3
After Yale: Explorations of Color ^{_{（1950–）}}

In 1950, Albers accepted a position at Yale University. From this period onward, he became known for his commitment to color. His color course required students to create various chromatic illusions. Working through exercises by trial and error, they acquired experience in seeing and selecting colors more precisely.

“Homage to the Square,” a painting series that continued for more than 20 years, adopts a fixed format with squares in which colors are juxtaposed to create a wide range of effects. These paintings reflect Albers’s exploration of color as a shifting phenomenon, as well as his attempts to capture the behavior of color in a dynamic way. This exhibition reconsiders Albers’s approach to color by showing the series that propelled him to fame as a painter, with student works reproduced in his major book Interaction of Color.

Chapter 4
Print Portfolio Formulation: Articulation ^_（1972）

In 1972, Albers published a print portfolio entitled Formulation: Articulation. This exhibition presents fifteen prints from this compilation of Albers’s up to that point. Each print is accompanied by a text written by Albers himself. When read together with the images, they allow viewers to reconstruct the artist’s thoughts on form-making and his exploration of color.

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Workshop: Experience Albers’s Teaching!

A workshop space will be set up for the exhibition’s entire duration where visitors can drop by to try their hands at Albers’s exercises. By actually using your hands, you will rediscover the wonder and fun of color. Videos are available to offer tips.

Exercise 1　
The magic of color: One color appears to be two different ones
Exercise 2　
Three color worlds: A single color can generate different
Exercise 3　
Trick of transparency: The illusion of transparency when there is no transparency
Exercise 4　
Lesson in folding: Ply and raise your supple sheet of paper up into a free-standing structure

^{*Albers and his students utilized everyday materials such as newspapers, magazines, and wrapping paper for their exercises. This workshop also addressed the upcycling of paper with the cooperation of four company, EHIME SHIKO CO.,LTD., GRIMM・EHIME CO.,LTD., TAKEO Co., Ltd., and DIC Decor, Inc.}

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Events

Lecture

Brenda Danilowitz (Chief curator of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation)
"To See in a New Way: Josef Albers, Artist and Teacher"
Saturday, July 29, 13:30－15:30
- Prebooking required

Ryo Sawayama (Art critic)
"Josef Albers: the Association of Forms"
Saturday, September 23, 13:30－15:00
- Prebooking required
 

Gallery Talks by the Curator

Saturday, August 12
Sunday, September 17
Friday, October 20
Each start from 11:30
- Booking required on the day of your visit at the Museum’s reception desk.

Guided Tours

Daily, 14:00－15:00
- Booking required on the day of your visit at the Museum’s reception desk.
 

Special Workshop: Experience the Interaction of Color 

Yasuhito Nagahara (Graphic designer, Supervisor of the Japanese edition of Josef Albers’s Interaction of Color)
Saturday, August 19, 13:30－15:30
Suitable for junior high school students and above
- Prebooking required
 

Workshop: Experience Albers’s Teaching!

Yūsuke Kameyama (Curator of the exhibition)
Thursday, August 10
Saturday, August 26
Saturday, September 9
Saturday, September 16
Friday, September 29
Monday, October 9
Saturday, October 21
Saturday, October 28
Each start from 11:30
*8 sessions. Each session takes up a different exercise.
Suitable for elementary school students and above
- Booking required on the day of your visit at the Museum’s reception desk.
 

Museum Concert: The Sound Museum of Theremin

The Puh＝Machiko Machikado (Theremin), Machio Machikado (Guitar & Vocal)
Saturday, October 14, 18:00 Start
- Reservations required. See Japanese page for details.