Gray Instrumentation I
1974
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
portfolio of twelve screenprints with title page, colophon, and text pages
Dimensions
overall: 52.07 × 51.44 × 3.81 cm (20 1/2 × 20 1/4 × 1 1/2 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Maclyn E. Wade
Accession Number
1977.73.1.1-12
Art Historical Context
**Gray Instrumentation I**, crafted by Josef Albers in 1974, is a captivating portfolio comprising twelve screenprints, accompanied by a title page,ophon, and text pages. Measuring 52.07 × 51.44 × 3.81 cm overall, this work exemplifies Albers' lifelong fascination with perception and visual phenomena. A key figure in the Bauhaus movement and later an influential educator at Black Mountain College and Yale, Albers was renowned for his color theory experiments, most famously in his *Homage to the Square* series. This late-career piece shifts to grayscale, inviting viewers to explore the subtle "...
About the Artist
Josef Albers
Josef Albers, born on March 19, 1888, in Bottrop, Westphalia, into a Roman Catholic family of craftsmen, received early practical training from his father, Lorenzo Albers, a housepainter and carpenter, mastering skills in engraving glass, plumbing, wiring, and printmaking. After working as a schoolteacher in Bottrop from 1908 to 1913, he trained as an art teacher at the Königliche Kunstschule in B...