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Above the Water

Josef Albers American, born Germany
1944
Not on view
Albers produced his woodcuts of the 1940s while teaching at Black Mountain College, an experimental art school in North Carolina. Within this body of work, Above the Water stages a marked contrast between a realistic aquatic surface and rigid geometric shapes that seem to hover both above and in front of the water. For Albers, the woodblock’s almost deceptive ability to resemble waves when printed was ideal for capturing the viewer’s interest. As he wrote in a text for Formulation: Articulation, the portfolio in which Above the Water was included, "To show wood merely as wood is a factual report. To make wood acting as water is an actual engagement."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Above the Water
  • Artist: Josef Albers (American (born Germany), Bottrop 1888–1976 New Haven, Connecticut)
  • Date: 1944
  • Medium: Woodcut
  • Dimensions: 13 1/4 x 9 7/8 in. (33.7 x 25.1 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Stewart S. MacDermott Fund, 1968
  • Object Number: 68.561.3
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Homage to the Square: Dilated, Josef Albers American, born Germany, Oil on Masonite
Homage to the Square: Dilated
Josef Albers
1969
Homage to the Square: Frontal Backing, Josef Albers American, born Germany, Oil on Masonite
Homage to the Square: Frontal Backing
Josef Albers
1970
Homage to the Square: On Near Sky, Josef Albers American, born Germany, Oil on Masonite
Homage to the Square: On Near Sky
Josef Albers
1963
Transformation of a Scheme No. 8, Josef Albers American, born Germany, Engraving on formica
Transformation of a Scheme No. 8
Josef Albers
1949
Never Before, Josef Albers American, born Germany, Oil on Masonite
Never Before
Josef Albers
1971

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