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Josef Albers 1888–1976 follow artist
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Monograph and exhibition catalog
Monograph and exhibition catalog
1964
bound printed paper
bound printed paper
estimate: $500–700
result: $1,134
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Sidney Janis Gallery softcover exhibition catalogue Joseph Albers, Sidney Janis Gallery.
Homage to the Square Joseph Albers, Sidney Janis Gallery, 1964. Artist Monograph.
The following comprehensive private sale of artist’s books and ephemera represents a pinnacle of awareness and compassion in collecting. Any reference library is forever bolstered by the infusion of the loosely defined printed matter section: the oft-hidden editions that, masterfully, if not slyly, reveal the artists’ personal connection to their own art. These compact and portable treatises emerge as artworks in their own right, replicated and shared in small or large runs.
If it is possible to build a library through careful deliberation and random encounter at play simultaneously, it has been done here—this library was beloved and cherished.
Here at present we have a remarkable atlas, of both artists and collectors. The printed passageways featured in Artists' Books & Ephemera offer a glimpse into each artist’s unique, democratic application of their ideas through hybrid, handheld, shareable art. Collecting is truly a lifestyle and an art of its own; every single artist presented here has a special connection to the sellers. If it is possible to build a library through careful deliberation and random encounter at play simultaneously, it has been done here—this library was beloved and cherished.
Logistically, the sheer volume of primary information contained within each title is impressive. Here we are confronted with the spectacular rawness of each artist’s specific output. The tensions between intricacy and simplicity remain forever entertaining. One ought to fall deeper in love with the artist through this display of tenderness and the depth of philosophy that each piece affords.
Outstanding examples pepper this collection, among them: Martin Kippenberger books doctored with scribbles, hastily drawn in his frenetic energy; numerous books by Lawrence Weiner, with his signature typeface. Delving deeper, we encounter rare Jan Bas Ader publications, a Marcel Broodthaers Magic Slate multiple (so fragile are his signatures on this piece!), outstanding Conceptual art publications and a Dieter Roth Hansjorg Mayer collection, alongside his editioned multiples–heady and stout but quirky and irreverent.
The collection goes deeper with Jill Magid’s documentation logs, Christian Marclay’s unplayable records, or Kiki Smith’s Tidal–an accordion-folded lunar masterpiece. A bold and exhaustive undertaking by Alighiero Boetti classifying the planet’s one thousand longest rivers is harshly contrasted by Xerox-borne reproduction documents from Steven Leiber.
Among larger group lots, we find a large collection of Imprint 93 publications, an art project started by Matthew Higgs. Another lot contains forty-two publications from Hanuman Books artist’s series in miniature–pure gems! There are numerous editioned works published by Monchengladbach featuring the likes of Blinky Palermo, Piero Manzoni, Jannis Kounellis, Carl Andre, Hanne Darboven, and James Lee Byars. Jenny Holzer shirts and stockings from the now-defunct Barney’s New York are joined by an Allen Ruppersberg’s Al’s Café ephemera group, which is presented alongside a nice selection of his artist’s books.
Several group lots focused on rare exhibition catalogs, monographs on Minimalism, comics (an entire lot is devoted to R. Crumb and his psychotic glory), short-lived publications, a collection of Destroy All Monsters material, Ex Libris Bookplates, and much more. There is hardly a limit to the charm of this collection.
Ultimately, each book, pamphlet, comic, fold, crease, and scribble coalesce into a powerful map of the minds and passion of the collectors behind Artists' Books & Ephemera.
Ultimately, each book, pamphlet, comic, fold, crease, and scribble coalesce into a powerful map of the minds and passion of the collectors behind Artists' Books & Ephemera. Our own individual predilections and fascinations make the story of this material timeless and, indeed, endless. It has been an honor to swim in this printed ocean, coming up for air only when strictly necessary.
All of these carefully vetted lots are mean to engage and excite the viewer, letting the collection blossom in texture and character. This–the infinite magic granted to us by such a library–is as profound as it is enlightening.
—Peter Jefferson, Senior Specialist
Josef Albers 1888–1976
From a young age, Josef Albers possessed an innate interest in glass and color. His father was a painter, and as a child, Albers loved to watch his father create. Albers commenced his formal training in art under the Dutch glass artist Jan Thorn-Prikker, who was a former follower of Henry Van der Velde. Beginning his studies at the Bauhaus in 1920, Albers quickly became involved in new experimentations in glass and painting. While he was a student, Albers began dating Anni Fleischmann, a talented student in textiles at the Bauhaus and in 1925 the two married. That same year, Josef became the Bauhaus master, the first student to hold the position.
The Albers moved to the United States in 1933, leaving Germany due to the rise of the Nazi Party. The architect, Philip Johnson recommended Josef Albers for a position at the newly formed Black Mountain College. Albers headed the progressive school’s art program and while director he taught many of the most celebrated American artists of the twentieth century, including Ruth Asawa, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Serra, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, and others. In 1949, Albers left Black Mountain College to serve as the Chairman of the Design department at Yale. It was there that he executed his most famous series of paintings entitled Homage to a Square.
Throughout the 1960s, Albers received several commissions to craft murals for new architectural projects; notably, in 1963, he completed a monumental abstract mural for the Pan Am building in New York. In 1971, five years before his death, Albers was the first living artist to be honored with a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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