WEG X from White Embossings on Gray
1971
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
line-cut in gray with embossing on Roleaf wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 58.58 × 39.53 cm (23 1/16 × 15 9/16 in.) sheet: 66.5 × 51 cm (26 3/16 × 20 1/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Benjamin B. Smith
Accession Number
1985.47.20
Art Historical Context
Josef Albers' *WEG X from Whiteossings on Gray*1971) is a masterful print that exemplifies the artist's lifelong fascination with visual perception and the illusions created by subtle contrasts. Created late in Albers' career—he passed away in 1976 work belongs to a series where he pushed beyond his iconic color studies, like the *Homage to the Square* paintings, to explore grayscale tones and texture. A pioneer of the Bauhaus movement and influential educator at Black Mountain College and Yale, Albers believed art should train the eye, revealing how minimal elements can deceive and delight. ...
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...