HOMAGE TO THE SQUARE

In my last post, my outfit reflected the stark snowy landscape and its contrast of black and white. Yesterday, I decided to brighten things up a little for a different kind of contrast--bold color against a backdrop of white.

The colors in this outfit were inspired by Josef Albers' color studies. Albers (1888-1976) was a lifelong artist and teacher, whose students included Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Eva Hesse. Though he was skilled in many artistic disciplines, including graphic design, printmaking, poetry, and photography, he is most known for painting, particularly his compilation of color studies entitled Homage to the Square.

In the Homage series, Albers explored the complex relationships between colors, and eventually published Interaction of Color in 1963. The basis of his color logic was that colors are influenced by context, i.e. the same red will appear different when placed next to a different blue.

Albers' color theories are now the bases of many upper-level art classes. I remember slaving over my own Homage series during undergraduate painting class, and I am eternally indebted to Albers for my own deep love of color and its relationships.

For this outfit, I wanted to reflect the intense hues of the Albers works and the juxtapositions of dissonant colors. I thought the motif of the scarf reflected the theme as well, and the boots were necessary to keep my feet warm!

I'm wearing a sweater and skirt from J. Crew, vintage leather purse and vintage scarf, Topshop tights, and Sorel "Joan of Arctic" boots.

P.S. You can now follow Artfully Awear on Tumblr for more updates and outtakes!

[Albers images from pixeljoint.com, fine-art.com, fine-art.com, paintingphotofy.com, thesillyboodilly.blogspot.com, nga.gov.au, and luxeandlucid.typepad.com, respectively.]