Josef Albers, The Interaction of Color, Plate XI
In 1963, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts celebrated the publication of Josef Albers’ The Interaction of Color with an exhibition of the portfolio and 22 Albers paintings from the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York. Albers attended the opening of the exhibition and gave a lecture on his theories of color.
Invitation to Josef Albers’ lecture “The Logic and Magic of Color” at the DMFA on April 30, 1963
According to Albers, the portfolio “shows a new way of teaching color, of studying color . . . to make our eyes sensitive to the wonders of color interaction.”
Josef Albers, The Interaction of Color, Plate VII
The Interaction of Color has never gone out of print and remains influential among teachers, artists, and designers. Yale University Press has even developed a popular app, available here.
The Mayer Library at the DMA has in its collection the portfolio, which Albers presented in 1963, inscribed “with my special greetings to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts.”
Several silkscreen color plates from the portfolio are currently on display in the Mayer Library.
Selected plates from The Interaction of Color on view in the Mayer Library
Mary Leonard is the librarian at the Dallas Museum of Art.