… Just as the knowledge of acoustics does not make one musical - neither on the productive nor on the appreciative side - so no color system by itself can develop one’s sensitivity for color. reverses this order and places practice before theory, which after all, is the conclusion of practice. And no normal human eye is able to see both squares - alike.Īlbers defied the standard academic approach of “theory and practice,” focusing instead on “development of observation and articulation,” with an emphasis not only on seeing color, but also feeling the relationships between colors. Here it is almost unbelievable that the left small and the right small squares are part of the same paper strip and therefore are the same color. THE RELATIVITY OF COLORĪ color has many faces, and one color can be made to appear as two different colors. Instead of mechanically applying or merely implying laws and rules of color harmony, distinct color effects are produced-through recognition of the interaction of color-by making, for instance, two very different colors look alike, or nearly alike. To this end, the beginning is not a study of color systems.įirst, it should be learned that one and the same color evokes innumerable readings. In order to use color effectively it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually.

This fact makes color the most relative medium in art.

In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is - as it physically is. Half a century later, Interaction of Color ( public library), with its illuminating visual exercises and mind-bending optical illusions, remains an indispensable blueprint to the art of seeing.Īlbers, who headed the legendary Black Mountain College that shaped such luminaries as Zen composer John Cage and reconstructionist Ruth Asawa, lays out the book’s beautifully fulfilled and timeless promise in the original introduction: In 1963, he launched into the world what would become the most influential exploration of the art, science, psychology, practical application, and magic of color - an experiment, radical and brave at the time, seeking to cultivate a new way of studying and understanding color through experience and trial-and-error rather than through didactic, theoretical dogma. Hardly anyone has accomplished more in revolutionizing the art of seeing than German-born American artist, poet, printmaker, and educator Josef Albers (March 19, 1888–March 25, 1976), as celebrated for his iconic abstract paintings as he was for his vibrant wit and spellbinding presence as a classroom performer.

“Hundreds of people can talk, for one who can think,” John Ruskin wrote, “but thousands of people can think, for one who can see.” “We see, but we do not see: we use our eyes, but our gaze is glancing, frivolously considering its object,” Alexandra Horowitz lamented in her sublime meditation on looking.

Albers interaction of color