Josef
Albers (March 19, 1888 – March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist
and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the
basis of modern art education programs of the twentieth century.
In
1950, Albers headed the department of design at Yale University. In 1962, as a
fellow at Yale, he received a grant from the Graham Foundation for the Advanced
Studies of Fine Arts for an exhibit and lecture on his work. Albers also
collaborated with Yale professor and architect King-lui Wu in creating
decorative designs for some of Wu's projects. Among these were distinctive
geometric fireplaces for the Rouse (1954) and DuPont (1959) houses, the façade
of Manuscript Society, one of Yale's secret senior groups (1962), and a design
for the Mt. Bethel Baptist Church (1973). Also, at this time he worked on his
structural constellation pieces.
In
1963, he published Interaction of Color which presented his theory that colors
were governed by an internal and deceptive logic. The very rare first edition
has a limited printing of only 2,000 copies and contained 150 silk screen
plates.