Structural Constellation
1955
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
machine-engraved vinylite
Dimensions
sheet: 10.95 × 13.97 cm (4 5/16 × 5 1/2 in.) overall: 10.95 × 13.97 × 1.5 cm (4 5/16 × 5 1/2 × 9/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Olga Hirshhorn)
Accession Number
2015.19.3338
Art Historical Context
Josef Albers' * Constellation* (1955) is a precise, intimate print crafted from machine-engravedite, measuring a compact 10.95 × 13.97 cm. This diminutive work, now housed in the National Gallery of Art as part of the Corcoran CollectionGift of Olga Hirsh), showcases Albers' mastery of geometric abstraction during a pivotal era in modern art. A Bauhaus veteran who later taught at Black Mountain College and Yale, Albers was renowned for exploring visual perception through form and color—most famously in his *Homage to the Square* series. Here, the title evokes celestial patterns rendered with ...
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...