Josef Albers was a German abstract painter known for his paintings and prints exploring color and geometric shapes. He was born in 1888 and became an art teacher at the influential Bauhaus Art School in Germany. When the Nazis closed the school, Albers fled to the United States. There he developed his signature style of painting squares of different colors to experiment with how colors interacted and made people feel. Albers painted over 1,000 works in his Homage to the Square series before his death in 1976, making him a pioneer of abstract art.

1. Josef AlbersJosef Albers
Abstract PainterAbstract Painter
1888-19761888-1976

2. ab·stract artab·stract art
Art that does not attempt toArt that does not attempt to
represent external, recognizablerepresent external, recognizable
reality but seeks to achieve itsreality but seeks to achieve its
effect using shapes, forms, colorseffect using shapes, forms, colors

3. Josef Albers
was born in
Germany. As a
young man he
became an
elementary
teacher.

4. He became
an art
teacher at
the famous
Bauhaus
Art School.

5. His first designs were painted on glass.

6. He became a master of black and white prints.

7. These are some of
his prints.

8. He loved playing with line and shape.

9. When the school was forced to close by the
Nazis, Albers fled to the United States.

10. Albers' artwork showed ideas and emotions through
simple geometric shapes and ordinary colors.

11. He became
interested in the way
colors made a
person feel.

12. He is sometimes
called "the
square man“.

13. Josef Albers discovered his signature motif, or symbol,
the square, when he was sixty-two years old.
Homage to the Square.

14. Rather than
mixing, he used
paints directly
from the tube.

15. Josef painted more than 1,000 paintings in
his series of paintings based on the Square.

16. He experimented with color. Each painting
has a different color combination.

17. Later on he experimented with rectangles too.

18. He even tried using other geometric shapes.
What shapes can you find?

19. Josef Albers isJosef Albers is
rememberedremembered
most for hismost for his
paintings ofpaintings of
squares ofsquares of
different colors.different colors.