interacting with color: a practical guide to josef albers’s color experiments

The essence of Josef Albers’s Interaction of Color in a format that engages learners of all ages and levels and encourages a hands-on approach

Interaction of Color is often presented as an overarching theory of color, but it is actually a method of learning how to better see and understand color--many of the color exercises illustrated in Interaction of Color were devised by Albers’s students: cutting and pasting, looking, pondering, and learning. This workbook companion is a teaching tool designed to enable readers to engage in the kinds of tactile creativity and exploration that characterized Albers’s own classroom.

Focusing on eight of the most important lessons in Interaction of Color, this book invites readers to learn by doing, using only simple materials. Core instructions for each exercise are enhanced by additional tips, references to Albers’s original text and illustrations, and stories about how Albers presented the ideas in class. The book and exercises are sufficiently nuanced to challenge and inspire seasoned artists, designers, and educators while also being readily accessible to younger readers and less-experienced practitioners.

Fritz Horstman is education director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.