$71,100
Josef Albers (German, 1888-1976) Young Eagle Initialed and dated "A 36" l. r., also titled, signed and dated "...Albers 36" on the reverse. Oil on Masonite, 19 x 21 3/4 in. (48.3 x 55.2 cm), framed. Condition: Craquelure, minor abrasions, and surface grime. Provenance: From the collection of Louis Albert McMillen. N.B. This work will be included in the forthcoming Josef Albers Catalogue Raisonné being prepared by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and is registered as number 1936.1.2. In 1936, the year of the present work, Josef Albers was teaching at Black Mountain College and experimenting with printmaking, oil painting, and line drawing. As suggested by the present title and others of the mid-1930s (e.g. In Open Air , 1936 and Evening [An Improvisation] , 1935) naturalistic subject matter was still his basis for representation. By the late 1930s, pure formal considerations—spatial and color relations—increasingly replaced naturalism, and titles became self-referential (i.e. pointing to the dynamics within the picture plane such as Related I [Red] , 1938–43 and Four X's in Red , 1938) more so than external references to the natural world. A predatory bird as subject matter may have been well-suited to Albers' early experimentation with geometric abstraction, as they evoke sharp angles and yet gliding movement through space. Minor abrasions, bloom in wax layer in u.l. quadrant, frame appears to have been painted grey (original black color is visible in places a
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2009-03-06
