A selection of paintings by the renowned artist and teacher Josef Albers 1886-1977 is on view on the first floor of the Yale University Art Gallery through March 16.
All but two of the works in the show, titled "Josef Albers: From the Collection," are from the artist's "Homage to the Square" series. This group and the rotating installation in the Albers Corridor are part of the collection of 64 paintings and prints given to the Yale Art Gallery in 1977 by the late Anni Albers and the Josef Albers Foundation, Inc.
A native of Bottrop, Germany, Albers emigrated to the United States in 1933. Before coming to Yale as head of the department of graphic design in 1950, Albers had taught at all levels -- from grade school in his native Germany, to Bauhaus students, to Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
During this time he had pursued his own work, making prints, furniture and glass assemblages and, later, painting abstract oils. In the year he took up his Yale appointment, Albers started his "Homages to the Square," the paintings and prints that preoccupied him for the rest of his life and for which he is universally recognized.
Patricia Garland, conservator of paintings at the Yale Art Gallery, will give an Art a la Carte talk on Albers' methods and materials at 12:20 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, at the Yale Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St. Ms. Garland has been the consultant conservator at the Josef Albers Foundation since 1978. Her talk is free and open to the public.