Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist
Collection of Lee V. Eastman, New York
Christie's, New York, Post-War and Contemporary Art Morning Session, November 09, 2005, lot 230
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Art in Embassies Mexico City, December 1967- August 1970
New York, Gering & López Gallery, Dan Flavin / Josef Albers, May 4- June 14,2008
Catalogue Essay
“If one says ‘red’ - the name of color - and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different.”
JOSEF ALBERS, 1963

In the space of twenty-six years, from 1950 until his death in 1976, Josef Albers created his best-known and most highly lauded body of work: Homage to the Square. Defying the prevailing sentiment of the time which emphasized the individual creative psyche of the artist and the unique qualities of a singular work of art, Albers steadfastly examined a reduced and elemental program in his art. A man who desired pure study, pure shapes, and pure experimentation in order to achieve unsurpassed subtlety in the interaction of color. His resulting body of work is significant, with many variations on his original tribute. As he progressed into later years of his series, his painting began to vibrate with an intensity that few artists have been able to achieve. Homage to the Square, Signal, 1966, gives us a privileged view of Albers’ nimble mind and exacting vision, where slight differences in the same hue provide a concentric framework for a gorgeous artistic achievement.

Albers’ background as a designer brought him into the realm of glass design, cementing his fondness for geometric shapes in his own work. After feeing Germany in 1933, he took with him his Bauhaus ideals of craftsmanship and connectedness of all the arts, preferring instead to teach a new generation of students the precepts of graphic art and self-discipline. He soon began his Homage series, carefully alternating the specific hues and chromatic schemes examining provocative as well as soothing combinations. Albers’ precise variations were the result of trial and error, with many early works exhibiting more dissonance than a gestalt product. Drawing criticism for what many perceived to be an impersonal approach to the creation of his work, he soon found himself supported by many mainstays of the New York School.

It was with the hard won experience of sixteen years into this series, that Albers executed Homage to the Square, Signal, 1966. As opposed to his early combinations of colors, which tended to be startling in their juxtaposition, here we find Albers testing the capability of our own powers of perception. The three squares radiate from the intense Cadmium Extra Scarlet heart of the painting through Cadmium Red Pale to Cadmium Scarlet . We can see the strokes of the palette knife (Albers’s trusted method of application) in its cutting precision upon the surface of the painting—itself a study in linearity. Though the observer might have to sharpen his focus considerably to discern the borders of the separate hues, this is exactly the method of observation that Albers had in mind: “He cared intensely about how things were done, and he cherished what could be seen and observed with the eyes, and then the ramifications. This is what his drawings were about: sharp, cogent observation, and then the effective rendition of what his eye had taken in so that a whole story can be grasped.”(N. Weber, “Josef Albers: Works on Paper and Paintings”, Josef Albers: Works on Paper and Paintings, London, 2007, p. 6) One of Albers’ great gifts for future generations was his encouragement for them to hone their senses of perceptions, thereby making them more sensitive to the subtleties of the universe.

The visual energy on the canvas before us is a testament to Albers dual nature as an aesthetician and methodical experimentalist. His brilliance as a painter extended to both realms, and we are ultimately left with such masterworks as Homage to the Square, Signal, 1966; “The Homages shimmer in their clarity and richness, evincing the mysterious poetry that makes them such sacred icons that now rivet audiences all over the world and provide a bounty of inspiration that only grows with time.” (N. Weber, “Josef Albers: Works on Paper and Paintings”, Josef Albers: Works on Paper and Paintings, London, 2007, p. 7)

20

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square: Signal

1966
oil on canvas on Masonite
32 x 32 in. (81.3 x 81.3 cm.)
Signed with monogram and dated “A 66” lower right; further signed, titled and dated “Study for Homage to the Square: ‘Signal’, Albers 1966” on the reverse.

Estimate
$800,000 - 1,200,000

Contact Specialist
Zach Miner
Head of Sale
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+1 212 940 1256

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York 16 May 2013 7pm

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Wade Guyton
U Sculpture (v. 5)
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Nate Lowman
Escalade
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3
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
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4
Jeff Koons
Jim Beam - Observation Car
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5
Christopher Wool
And If
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6
Cady Noland
Industry Park
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7
Andreas Gursky
Rhein
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8
Thomas Schütte
Großer Geist Nr. 9
Estimate $3,000,000 - 5,000,000
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9
Richard Prince
Untitled (Man's hand with watch)
Estimate $150,000 - 250,000
Sold for $161,000
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10
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $509,000
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11
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,685,000
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12
Andy Warhol
Self-Portrait
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13
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Soap)
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
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14
Glenn Ligon
Stranger Drawing #7
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15
Andy Warhol
Blue/Green Marilyn from Reversal Series
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16
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attese
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17
Andy Warhol
Flowers
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18
Roy Lichtenstein
Still Life
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19
Ellsworth Kelly
Green black
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,965,000
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20
Josef Albers
Study for Homage to the Square: Signal
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
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21
John Chamberlain
Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya
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Sold for $905,000
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22
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
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23
Andy Warhol
Four Marilyns
Estimate On Request
Sold for $38,245,000
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24
This lot is no longer available.
25
Andy Warhol
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn)
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26
Wayne Thiebaud
Cat and Traffic
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27
Morris Louis
Roseate
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28
Alexander Calder
The White Face
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29
Philip Guston
Brushes
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30
James Rosenquist
The Meteor Hits the Swimmer's Pillow
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31
Jeff Koons
Giraffe (Light Green)
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32
Damien Hirst
Sulbenicilina Disódica
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33
Kelley Walker
I see an attacking bear-shaped thing
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34
Franz West
Untitled (Two heads)
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35
Richard Prince
Untitled (Cowboy)
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36
Mark Grotjahn
Butterfly
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37
Dana Schutz
Dead Zebra
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38
Thomas Houseago
Untitled
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $209,000
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York 16 May 2013 7pm

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Provenance

Exhibited

Catalogue Essay

20

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square: Signal

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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