Material and Immaterial Colours in Interaction: Josef Albers’ Murals ‘Homages to the Square’ at the Rochester Institute of Technology

Abstract

When a group of uniform colours interact on a flat surface, they can be interpreted as being material or immaterial finishings, opaque or transparent, and having different spatial positions. These phenomena were experienced in Josef Albers’ artwork, particularly in his Homage to the Square series, with over 2,000 paintings, prints and other works experimenting with colour interactions. At the Rochester Institute of Technology campus, Albers created one of his rare large-scale Homage to the Square pieces, titled Growth, comprising two opposing murals in the lobby of the administration hall. We developed a detailed study of this artwork, and based on archival research and on-site observations, interpreted how its geometric composition and colour interactions create material and immaterial effects, making possible different spatial layering interpretations. Albers' paired set, Growth, acts as an abstract trompe l’œil and successfully demonstrates that colour depth perception is contextual rather than absolute.

Keywords: architecture, colour, Josef Albers, square, space, layer, material, immaterial, transparency