OUGD404 - Josef Albers

Josef Albers was a German - American artist and educator. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and joined the Bauhaus as a glass maker at the beginning of his career. He is best known as an abstract painter and theorist - particularly for the strict composition and varying colour palettes within his work 'Homage to the Square', which was extremely influential and informative in the field of colour study. 

Albers created hundreds of variations of 3 or 4 squares set inside each other. The squares were all set the same, all placed nearer the bottom of the image as opposed to a central alignment.

The square sets are created in hundreds of different colour combinations and with no additions of text, the combinations across all pieces of artwork alter the feeling and character of each artwork. Despite the composition never changing, the relationships between each square in one piece vary - the climates, as Albers put it, are vastly different.

For example, in the left piece, the colours used remind me of a fire or a sunset, and envoke feelings of warmth. The feeling of the piece overall is an uplifting one. However on the right, in all squares he uses blue but in different tones. The inward gradient effect coupled with the use of a cool colour makes the piece more sombre and feel less happy. 

Albers work perfectly demonstrates the profound effect colour has on design and the importance of picking the perfect colours to compliment designs. The colours used in a design to convey a message/feeling need to be researched and well thought out to avoid a mis communication.