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Josef Albers Quotes

1888–1976 Germany

Josef Albers (March 19, 1888 – March 26, 1976) was a German artist, mathematician and art teacher [at Bauhaus ], whose work - in Europe and later in the United States - formed the basis of an influential and far-reaching art education program of the 20th century. He became a leading figure of Black Mountain College in the U.S.

Germany
Academics
Educators
Mathematicians
Painters

Also known as: Joseph Albers

Random Josef Albers quote

12 quotes

For me, abstraction is real, probably more real than nature. I'll go further and say that abstraction is nearer my heart. I prefer to see with closed eyes.

The concern of the artist is with the discrepancy between physical fact and psychological effect.

In order to use color effectively it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually.

Faber Birren (1976)

I want color and form to have contradictorily functions.

A painter works to formulate with or in colors.. .My paintings follow the second option.

In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is — as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art.

Margaret Walch (1979)

If one says 'Red' and there are 50 people listening, it can be expected that there will be 50 reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different.

Every perception of colour is an illusion.. ..we do not see colours as they really are. In our perception they alter one another.

I've handled colour as man should behave. With trained and sensitive eyes, you can recognise this double behavior of colour. And from this you may conclude that I consider ethics and aesthetics as one.

I have taught – until 10 years ago – for nearly 40 years, that is almost half of my life. And when I think that over – now afterwards -, I come to a surprising conclusion, namely that I did not teach arts as such, but philosophy and psychology of art.

A conversation with Josef Albers (1970)

Seeing several of these paintings [his series paintings 'Hommage to the square', Josef Albers painted in 1963-64] next to each other makes it obvious that each painting is an instrumentation on its own.

Homage to the square (1964)

Amateurism is an emptiness and I accept it because it has no preconceived ideas or rules to be applied. This is for me [as art teacher] a most welcome situation and I like to keep my students amateurs and dilettantes.

A conversation with Josef Albers (1970)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Josef Albers (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.