18 Items in this Learning Collection
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Copyright
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Articulation: Formulation

Accession Number
1983/1.336.17

Title
Articulation: Formulation

Artist(s)
Josef Albers

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1972

Medium & Support
screenprint on paper

Dimensions
15 1/16 in x 20 1/16 in (38.2 cm x 51 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of the Marvin Felheim Collection

Subject matter
Formulation: Articulation is a two-part portfolio totaling 127 screenprints. The prints are divided into folders that contain their own brief introductions, often describing the design process, a print’s relation to an earlier piece by the artist, or various perspectives from which to view the print. Josef Albers spent two years working on the piece towards the end of his lifetime. The series can be viewed as the summation of his life’s work since it draws on concepts that he developed throughout his career. In the introduction to the portfolios he writes, “Our aim is not a retrospective report; the book aims at Art itself, meaning: no retrospective in the usual sense. These are visual realizations here presented outspoken in silkscreen.” Arguably, Albers’s most memorable body of work is his Homage to the Square, which he began in 1950 and continued to add to until his death in 1976. Thirty-eight of the prints in Formulation: Articulation are part of Homages. Another important contribution Albers had to color theory was his analysis Interaction of Color that he published a decade before Formulation: Articulation. The piece is more of a scientific examination of color while Formulation: Articulation is more of an artistic set of portfolios that draws on the theories he explored previously.

Physical Description
On a long white horizontal piece of white paper we see four vertical rectangles with treble clef shapes in them in shades of black, white and grey.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Primary Object Type
abstract

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Abstract (fine arts style)
color (perceived attribute)
geometric shape
geometric shapes
modern and contemporary art
music

6 Related Resources

Music and Musicians
(Part of: Music + Art for Educators)
Race and American Music
(Part of: Music + Art for Educators)
Whiteness in the Collection
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
W24 Barry - ENVIRON 244: Art in Nature: Micro to Macro
(Part of: Examples of Online Activities)
SP21 Barry - ENVIRON 244: Art in Nature: Micro to Macro
(Part of: Examples of Online Activities)

& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved