Study for Homage to the Square: Night Shade

Details

Josef Albers (1888-1976)
Study for Homage to the Square: Night Shade
oil on blotting paper
11 3/8 x 11 3/8in. (29 x 29cm.)
Executed in 1957

Provenance

Galerie Klihm, Munich.
Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Zurich.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1970.

Special Notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Further Details

This work will be included in the forthcoming Josef Albers Catalogue Raisonné being prepared by The Anni and Josef Albers Foundation.

Brought to you by

Cristian Albu

calbu@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 3006

Lot Essay

'I have not built any theory. I have only tried to build up sensitive eyes, as my book says. And I have tried to achieve that by aiming at very distinct colour relationships again - like how do they influence each other? Change each other in light and in intensity, in transparency, opacity? How do they change each other in all different directions?...And in the end, the study of colour again is a study of ourselves. And to anyone today who tries to predict to me what two colors will do, I will say "Please stop. I do not trust you. Because anyone who predicts the effect of colours proves that he has no experience with colour. Colour is fooling us, cheating us, deceiving us - you can call it if you want - all the time." (J. Albers, quoted in S. Fesci, Oral History Interview with Josef Albers, 1968, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-josef-albers-11847 [accessed 17th April 2014]).

Study for Homage to the Square: Night Shade

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Lot Essay

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