Josef Albers' Works on Paper Reveal Lyrical Side at Morgan Library Exhibition

The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City presented "Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper" from July 20 to October 14, 2012. This exhibition showcased a different sensibility from Albers' austere Homage to the Square series, revealing his more expressive and tentative side through works on paper. Albers, who immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1933 after being associated with the Bauhaus since 1919, found inspiration in America's wilderness and Mexico's rectilinear architecture for his Adobe series. The show included studies for both the Homage to the Square and Adobe series, featuring color explorations where Albers once remarked "The greens are envious of each other." Works displayed unexpected lyricism with drips, rough edges, and non-straight lines, contrasting with his reputation as a rational experimenter. One striking piece was a red-on-red study for Homage to the Square whose luminescence created an illusion of backlighting. The Adobe series, with its rectangular forms and symmetry, included a 1947 work with dark blue backgrounds, a partially seen pink adobe house framed by green and black, and an orange rectilinear form with black doors. Albers' restraint in these works was described as joyous, with improvisations emerging from his curiosity. The exhibition provided a broader view of Albers as a painter, highlighting the immediacy and spontaneity of works on paper compared to canvas or linen.