An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers »

Natasha Wing lives in Arcata, California.

Amy Wummer lives in Reading, Pennsylvania.

As a child, Josef Albers loved to watch his handyman father paint houses.When Josef grew up and became an artist, he reduced each image to its simplest shapes, breaking it down into blocks of color.

He made an incredible discovery: he could alter the entire mood of a painting just by changing the way he combined the colors! Josef spent his entire life studying color, and what he found revolutionized the way people look at art.

Publishers Weekly

This creative biography explores how Albers, perhaps best known for his paintings of squares in different color combinations, “saw art in the simplest things.” Albers is pictured rummaging for scrap materials in a dump, which he turns into “collages that shined like jewels.” As a teacher, Albers told his students, “Watch what’s going on... and capture the accident.” After visiting Mexico—Albers is shown climbing an abstract temple-like structure of colorful rectangles—he reflects on the effects of combining different colors: “Colors came to life like actors on a stage!” An accessible and lively introduction to this artist and to color theory. Ages 6–9. (Sept.)