Interaction of Color: Revised and Expanded Edition [Paperback]

Josef Albers (Author), Nicholas Fox Weber (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2006

Josef Albers’s Interaction of Color is a masterwork in twentieth-century art education. Conceived as a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors, and students, this timeless book presents Albers’s unique ideas of color experimentation in a way that is valuable to specialists as well as to a larger audience.

Originally published by Yale University Press in 1963 as a limited silkscreen edition with 150 color plates, Interaction of Color first appeared in paperback in 1971, featuring ten representative color studies chosen by Albers. The paperback has remained in print ever since and is one of the most influential resources on color for countless readers.

This new paperback edition presents a significantly expanded selection of more than thirty color studies alongside Albers’s original unabridged text, demonstrating such principles as color relativity, intensity, and temperature; vibrating and vanishing boundaries; and the illusions of transparency and reversed grounds. Now available in a larger format and with enhanced production values, this expanded edition celebrates the unique authority of Albers’s contribution to color theory and brings the artist’s iconic study to an eager new generation of readers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'The Interaction of Colour... has proven key to understanding color relationships and human perception... Anyone who works with color should read Albers' findings, period.' Pamela Pfiffner, MacUser"

About the Author

Josef Albers, one of the most influential artist-educators of the twentieth century, was a member of the Bauhaus group in Germany during the 1920s. In 1933 he came to the United States, where he taught at Black Mountain College for sixteen years. In 1950 he joined the faculty at Yale University as chairman of the Department of Design. The recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, Albers was the first living artist ever to be given a solo retrospective at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Nicholas Fox Weber is Executive Director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; Rev Exp edition (May 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300115954
• ISBN-13: 978-0300115956
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Arts & Photography > History & Criticism
  • #19 in Books > Arts & Photography > Design & Decorative Arts > Graphic Design

More About the Author

Josef Albers, one of the most influential artist-educators of the 20th century, was a member of the Bauhaus group in Germany during the 1920s. In 1933 he came to the United States, where he taught at Black Mountain College for sixteen years. In 1950 he joined the faculty at Yale University as chairman of the Department of Design. The recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, Albers was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1968 and was professor emeritus of art at Yale until his death in 1976.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For more color plates......., May 3, 2007

By 

N. R. Evans (Nebraska, US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Interaction of Color: Revised and Expanded Edition (Paperback)

Previous reviews have bemoaned a lack of color plates. I just wanted to clarify that the 2006 Revised & Expanded edition has many more than the 8 or 10 mentioned by other reviewers. In the version I purchased (2006), the back half, approx., of the book is devoted to color plates that refer back to the chapters where particular principles are discussed. The color plates are on the right leaf, and an explanation of said plate is on the left. In the margin of the left, a reference back to the chapter/section in the book is made so that further reading on each principle is easy to locate. This is perhaps a little more awkward than having the plates sprinkled within the chapter/sections themselves, but for the cost of the book, this is an entirely acceptable method of sharing both written information and visual reinforcement. I counted more than 35 plates in the book.

136 of 148 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Almost worthless without the original color plates, February 8, 2005

By 

Shock Writer (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Interaction of Color: Revised Edition (Paperback)

As another reviewer states the original had 150 color plates this version has only 8 in mine. The visual phenomena are so complex that without the plates you can't possibly accurately understand what the book is talking about. Sure you could make you own examples, but if you did, you would NOT be sure, given the complex examples, that you understood what the author was talking about. Instead you will have a false understanding or incomplete understanding that will make you look foolish. The publisher is cashing in on the author's previous great work without really republishing it. This is the lowest I've ever rated a book.

86 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good poetry - Needs more plates, July 11, 2001

By 

Spencer Harvey "[e-mail]" (Acton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interaction of Color: Revised Edition (Paperback)

When originally published, Albers' book had 150 plates. Not surprising for a treatise on the use of color in art. However, when you chop it down to 10 color plates, as is the case with this "pocket" volume, something is lost. Never-the-less, Albers is clearly a master of this topic, and his poetic prose is inspiring. Let's hope that the original volume is reprinted at some point.