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Defense Date
1975
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Art Foundation
Abstract
Until the 1960s there was more interest in Josef Albers as an artist. Albers' successful teaching career began in 1923 at the Bauhaus where he was eventually placed in charge of the whole elementary course. Albers' American educational career centered around Black Mountain College in North Carolina and Yale University where he was chairman of the Department of Design.This paper, in effect, will deal with Albers as an artist, teacher, and theorist. Albers as an artist will be explored by a study of Homage to the Square, the series from which much of Albers' present fame is derived. Albers' color theory is contained in his writing, Interaction of Color, a book dedicated to his students which records his method of teaching color. It is the purpose of this paper to show Albers' theory and his paintings, Homage to the Square, exemplify many principles of perception: the realization that color experience is a subjective, inward experience, the Gestalt notions on "good" forms, and the awareness that our knowledge is of the perception of things -- not of things themselves. In order to pursue such a course of study, it will be necessary to investigate other color theories, theories of perception, Albers' work and evaluations of his works.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
June 2008
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Comments
Part of Retrospective ETD Collection, restricted to VCU only.