When a Square is More than a Square

In class on Friday, we considered some instances of how positioning shapes in different ways on a space established different emotions in the viewer. It reminded me of the paintings of Josef Albers. Some people in class may be unaware that a number of his Homage to the Square paintings reside only a few miles from Quinnipiac University at the foundation that was once the home of him and his wife Anni, also an artist. Recently, I had the privilege of standing in the same room with them. I was amazed to see squares receding and moving forward dramatically; the same paintings viewed as photographs in a book are much less engaging. The design elements are the same. What makes the difference? It may be the physical size of the paintings. It may be the lighting. Or, perhaps it is the drama of being in the same room with a work of art whose creator is no longer living, yet that speaks as eloquently as if the artist were standing there beside us. The web site for the foundation is albersfoundation.org.