Sale: 600 / Evening Sale, Dec. 05. 2025 in Munich 
Lot 125000982
Lot 125000982 
Raumbeispiel
125000982
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square: Tenacious, 1969.
Oil on fibreboard
Estimate:
€ 300,000 - 400,000
$ 348,000 - 464,000
Information on buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation will be available four weeks before the auction.
Homage to the Square: Tenacious. 1969.
Oil on fibreboard.
Monogrammed and dated in the lower right. Signed, dated, and titled “Study for Homage to the Square: Tenacious” on the reverse, along with the dimensions and notes on the composition’s color scheme. 60.6 x 60.6 cm (23.8 x 23.8 in). [JS].
• From the series “Homage to the Square,” internationally regarded as one of the most important works of abstract painting.
• Inspired by the pre-Columbian architecture of the Maya and Aztecs, Bauhaus artist Albers developed his characteristic formal language.
• “Homage to the Square: Tenacious”: a subtly nuanced composition in bright sunny yellow.
• The painting was part of the major Albers retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1988.
• Excellent provenance: From the collection of Lee Eastman, New York, friend and patron of the artist, with works by Albers, de Kooning, and Giacometti.
• Other paintings from the famous series can be found in, among others, the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, as well as the Tate Modern, London.
The painting is registered in the archive of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, Connecticut. The work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné.
PROVENANCE: Lee V. Eastman Collection, New York (until 1991, acquired directly from the artist).
Lee V. Eastman Trust, New York (until 2006, labeled on the reverse).
Private collection, USA (acquired from the aforementioned in 2006, Christie's, New York).
EXHIBITION: Josef Albers. A Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, March 23–May 29, 1988, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, June 12–July 24, 1988; Bauhaus Archive, Berlin, August 10–October 2, 1988, p. 268, cat. no. 225 ( illustrated, with the exhibition labels on the reverse).
LITERATURE: Christie's, New York, 1659. Auction, Postwar and Contemporary, May 10, 2006, Lot 177 (illustrated).
"In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is - as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art."
Josef Albers, Interaction of Color, introduction, Yale University Press 1963.
Oil on fibreboard.
Monogrammed and dated in the lower right. Signed, dated, and titled “Study for Homage to the Square: Tenacious” on the reverse, along with the dimensions and notes on the composition’s color scheme. 60.6 x 60.6 cm (23.8 x 23.8 in). [JS].
• From the series “Homage to the Square,” internationally regarded as one of the most important works of abstract painting.
• Inspired by the pre-Columbian architecture of the Maya and Aztecs, Bauhaus artist Albers developed his characteristic formal language.
• “Homage to the Square: Tenacious”: a subtly nuanced composition in bright sunny yellow.
• The painting was part of the major Albers retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1988.
• Excellent provenance: From the collection of Lee Eastman, New York, friend and patron of the artist, with works by Albers, de Kooning, and Giacometti.
• Other paintings from the famous series can be found in, among others, the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, as well as the Tate Modern, London.
The painting is registered in the archive of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, Connecticut. The work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné.
PROVENANCE: Lee V. Eastman Collection, New York (until 1991, acquired directly from the artist).
Lee V. Eastman Trust, New York (until 2006, labeled on the reverse).
Private collection, USA (acquired from the aforementioned in 2006, Christie's, New York).
EXHIBITION: Josef Albers. A Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, March 23–May 29, 1988, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, June 12–July 24, 1988; Bauhaus Archive, Berlin, August 10–October 2, 1988, p. 268, cat. no. 225 ( illustrated, with the exhibition labels on the reverse).
LITERATURE: Christie's, New York, 1659. Auction, Postwar and Contemporary, May 10, 2006, Lot 177 (illustrated).
"In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is - as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art."
Josef Albers, Interaction of Color, introduction, Yale University Press 1963.
125000982
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square: Tenacious, 1969.
Oil on fibreboard
Estimate:
€ 300,000 - 400,000
$ 348,000 - 464,000
Information on buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation will be available four weeks before the auction.
Headquarters
Joseph-Wild-Str. 18
81829 Munich
Phone: +49 89 55 244-0
Fax: +49 89 55 244-177
info@kettererkunst.de
Louisa von Saucken / Undine Schleifer
Holstenwall 5
20355 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 37 49 61-0
Fax: +49 40 37 49 61-66
infohamburg@kettererkunst.de
Dr. Simone Wiechers / Nane Schlage
Fasanenstr. 70
10719 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 88 67 53-63
Fax: +49 30 88 67 56-43
infoberlin@kettererkunst.de
Cordula Lichtenberg
Gertrudenstraße 24-28
50667 Cologne
Phone: +49 221 510 908-15
infokoeln@kettererkunst.de
Hessen
Rhineland-Palatinate
Miriam Heß
Phone: +49 62 21 58 80-038
Fax: +49 62 21 58 80-595
infoheidelberg@kettererkunst.de
We will inform you in time.