To create the precise chromatic studies of his 10-lithograph portfolio Day and Night, abstract painter and theorist Josef Albers outlined seven master images for his printer, Ken Tyler, to execute the suite. Albers had no physical hand in the work, and Tyler was tasked with the severe technical challenges of the work, which required precise color mixing, flawless registration—accomplished by using a rigid bar with pins—and the completely uninflected hand printing of a matte field of color, which was achieved by blotting each run after printing. The exactness of the image is even manifest in the paper’s edges, which were cut after printing. The relationship between artist and printer was at its most synergistic with this collaboration, and Albers and Tyler would go on to complete even more complex prints after the founding of Gemini in 1965.
Details
- Artist Name: Josef Albers (American, 1888-1976)
- Title: Homage to the Square: Day and Night III
- Date: 1963
- Medium: Lithograph
- Dimensions: Sheet: 18-3/4 x 20-3/8 in. (47.6 x 51.8 cm); Image: 15-3/4 x 15-3/4 in. (40.0 x 40.0 cm)
- Publisher: Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Inc.
- Printer: Kenneth Tyler, John Dowell
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Anonymous Gift
- Accession Number: P.1966.07.003
- Copyright: © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object Information
Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California
- Norton Simon Museum, 2011-10-02 to 2012-04-02
- Lehmbeck, Leah et al., Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California, 2011, Fig. 85 p. 124
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