Josef Albers (1888–1976)

Lronaro. Vol. II, pp. 310-312. 0Pergamon Press Ltd. 1978. Printed in Great Britain. JOSEF ALBERS (1888-1976)* Buckminster Fuller** Just before dawn of the 20th century when Josef Albers was born, world-around humanity’s reality was obviouseverything humans could directly see, smell, touch and hear with their own senses. When Albers was seven, radium was discovered; when he was ten, the electron was discovered, followed in a few years by X-rays, cosmic rays, electromagnetics in general. Today, 99.999% of the reality of hard science and technology is sensed only indirectly by macro-micro-instrumental extensions. Reality of 1977is 99.999% non-obvious, invisibleand only contactable by mind-trained brains and the instruments they have devised. The aesthetic of the new reality is integrity, for only through absolute integrity of coping can the frontiers be reached. Macrocosmically,we have a 12-billion-light-year radius sweep-out,and, microcosmically, we have an atomviewing penetration. To comprehend where the artist Albers fits into the swiftly evolving episodes of the scenario: hunians in universe requires cosmic scale consideration. As we shall see, at any scale of consideration, Albers proves to be great for his aesthetic integrity; it is maximally inclusive and refined. In July 1969. the significance of artists such as Josef Albers was momentarily overwhelmed by the Moon landing news. Though the names of the astronautsdoing visible reality’s televised tasks had the widest and most dramatic publication in human history, their individual names became ever more difficult to recall, because our subconscious judgments know that the accomplishment was a complex cooperative task of millions of humans working almost entirely within the invisible reality whose greatest heroes probably were the Houston, Texas, Mission Control Center’s corps of, on average, 19-yearolds who operated the battery of omni-computerized, electro-magnetic wave fed, space-flight’s remote control consoles. As the world held its breath and the astronauts their courage, the 19-year-olds had the mind-brain responsibility of split-second judging whether the data was falling within anticipated limits of the flight plan and when to alert the mission controller himself regarding any and all deviations from the flight plan. Experience had shown that the conditioned reflexingof those over 19was too insensitive, askew and laggard to permit the faultless, coolly comprehendingperformance required and to do so within the exquisitely critical time limits, uniquely characterizing each function. Each time the tidal wave of such world news subsides and is followed by moments of everyday continuity, we rediscover Albers and his pictures to be evermore enduringly satisfactory. *Talk presented at a dinner of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in New York City on 18 January 1978. **Architect and engineer, University City Science Center. 3500 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19104. U.S.A. Graduating from history’s ‘schools’ of Athens, Florence, Paris, etc. and also from powerful individual patronage, Earthian’s arts and lettersare now enteringan entirely new world forum of popular, initially fickle but ultimately magnificent patronage. International physical events flrst; individual physical events second: make today’s great headlines. Happily amusing, money-making arts and lettersget a whole third section news accommodation, while seriously bemusing, monetarily unexploitable arts and letters get small paragraphs or none. Television pays the world-champion pugilist and his challenger over a million dollars for the exclusive right to broadcast the minutes-lasting, close-in scene of two humans employing humanity’s great cerebrating facilities only for punching dummies. Nobel prize scientists make the news not because of their scientific accomplishments, but because Nobel awards had been for many pre-inflation years the world’s biggest money prizes-a lifetime supporting fortune. At first, slowly, then ever faster, history reverses the order of prominently remembered people and events,and the metaphysical gradually transcends the physical in human reconsideration and inspiration. Out goes Time Magazine’s 12annually successive ‘Man of the Year’ Hitler and in comes a more enduring Picasso. Emerging much more slowly, but far longer to endure, come such modest scientist-artists as Albers, whose strength is his metaphysical integrity and omni-humanity concern. Since we seek to comprehend Albers and his metaphysical mind’s command of his...