Josef Albers (1888-1976) was one of the leading artists and art and design teachers of the 20th century. His emphasis was on color as a medium in its own right.

Josef Albers was born in 1888 in Bottrop in the Ruhr District of West Germany. After receiving his education at the Teachers' Training School in Langenhorst and then at the Teachers College in Büren, he began his career as a teacher in the primary grades in the public school of Bottrop. His interest in art began with a visit to Munich and its museums and galleries in 1908. By 1913 he had completed his first abstract painting, and soon after he mastered the art of printmaking, especially woodcuts and lithographs.

In 1920 Albers became a student at the Bauhaus in Weimar, founded by Walter Gropius, and remained as a teacher when the Bauhaus was relocated first to Dessau and then...