Midnight + Noon I
1964
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color lithograph on Arches wove paper
Dimensions
image: 40.1 x 40.1 cm (15 13/16 x 15 13/16 in.) sheet: 47.9 x 52 cm (18 7/8 x 20 1/2 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith
Accession Number
1983.18.100.1
Art Historical Context
Josef Albers' *Midnight + Noon I* (1964) is a striking color lithograph on Arches wove paper, measuring a perfect square of 40.1 x 40.1 cm within a larger sheet. Created late in the artist's career, this print exemplifies Albers' lifelong fascination with color perception, a theme central to his teaching and oeuvre. As a master of the Bauhaus school—who later influenced generations at Black Mountain College and Yale—Albers explored how colors interact and shift based on juxtaposition, often using geometric forms to reveal optical illusions. The title evokes dramatic contrasts—midnight's deep ...
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...