Albers and Morandi: Never Finished

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. —Italo Calvino

David Zwirner is pleased to present Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, curated by gallery Partner David Leiber. On view at the gallery’s 537 West 20th Street location, the exhibition explores the formal and visual affinities and contrasts between two of the twentieth century’s greatest painters: Josef Albers (1888–1976) and Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964).

Both Albers and Morandi are best known for their decades-long elaborations of singular motifs: from 1950 until his death in 1976, Albers employed his nested square format to experiment with endless chromatic combinations and perceptual effects, while Morandi, in his intimate still lifes and occasional landscapes, engaged viewers’ perceptual understanding and memory of everyday objects and spaces.

Image: Giorgio Morandi, Natura morta (Still Life), 1953 (detail)

The 20th Street gallery is open to the public with a limited number of visitors allowed into the exhibition spaces at a time, in accordance with city guidelines.

Tuesday to Friday, advance appointments are recommended but not required.

On Saturdays, the gallery is open by appointment only.

To schedule your visit, please click here.

To learn more about the enhanced safety measures currently in place, please click here.

Location

537 West 20th Street New York

Dates

January 7—March 27, 2021

Artist

Giorgio Morandi, Josef Albers

Never Finished

“Each was the real thing: diligent, serious, and, at the same time, poetic and lyrical. Each deliberately established limitations for his art, confining the vocabulary and regulating the format, and then extracted the maximum … toward a truly spiritual beauty.”

—Nicholas Fox Weber, “Slight Variations on Inviolable,” in Josef Albers, Museo Morandi, Bologna, 2005

Giorgio Morandi, Natura morta (Still Life), 1955 (detail)

Giorgio Morandi, Natura morta (Still Life), 1955 (detail)

Giorgio Morandi, Natura morta (Still Life), c. 1954 (detail)

Giorgio Morandi, Natura morta (Still Life), c. 1954 (detail)

Josef Albers, 1976. Courtesy The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation

Josef Albers, 1976. Courtesy The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation

Giorgio Morandi, 1953. Photo by Herbert List

Giorgio Morandi, 1953. Photo by Herbert List

“Morandi’s statement that nothing is more abstract than reality overshadows … an almost scientific research and observation of color and light relationships.… Just like Morandi, Albers came to his identity indirectly. In these long series of parallel squares … Albers looked into what he referred to as ‘interaction of color.’”

—Peter Weiermair, “Josef Albers’s Exhibition at the Museo Morandi,” in Josef Albers, Museo Morandi, Bologna, 2005

Installation view, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Installation view, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Installation view, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Installation view, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: Apodictic, 1950

Oil on Masonite

17 x 17 inches (43.2 x 43.2 cm)
Framed: 17 3/8 x 17 3/8 inches (44.1 x 44.1 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta con bottiglia bianca e piccola bottiglia blu (Still life with white bottle and small blue bottle), 1955

Oil on canvas

13 7/8 x 16 inches (35.2 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 16 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (42.5 x 47.6 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1953

Oil on canvas

11 7/8 x 13 3/4 inches (30 x 35 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 17 5/8 inches (40 x 44.8 cm)

“For Morandi, color defines forms and space.… Albers’s color fields, on the other hand, … merge into each other in the process of seeing, forming new connections.”

—Heinz Liesbrock, Giorgio Morandi: Landschaft, 2005

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square, 1964

Oil on Masonite

24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
Framed: 24 1/2 x 24 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches (62.2 x 62.2 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: White Aura, 1968

Oil on Masonite

40 x 40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Framed: 40 1/4 x 40 1/4 inches (102.2 x 102.2 cm)

“One could be knowledgeable about color, but one could not always predict what would happen.… Every painting would be an experiment.”

—Jeannette Redensek, “Farbenfabeln: On the Origins and Development of the Homage to the Square,” in Josef Albers: Interaction, Villa Hügel, Essen, 2018

Josef Albers
Study for Homage to the Square, 1973
Oil on Masonite
16 x 16 inches (40.6 x 40.6 cm)
16 3/4 x 16 3/4 x 1 3/8 inches (42.5 x 42.5 x 3.5 cm)

“Painting is color acting.… Acting color loses identity, appears as another color, lighter or dark, more or less intensive, brighter or duller, warmer or cooler … higher and nearer or deeper and farther away.”

—Josef Albers, studio note, 1950s

Josef Albers
Study for Homage to the Square, 1973
Oil on Masonite
16 x 16 inches (40.6 x 40.6 cm)
16 3/4 x 16 3/4 x 1 3/8 inches (42.5 x 42.5 x 3.5 cm)

“Painting is color acting.… Acting color loses identity, appears as another color, lighter or dark, more or less intensive, brighter or duller, warmer or cooler … higher and nearer or deeper and farther away.”

—Josef Albers, studio note, 1950s

“There is no color tone or scrap of line that Albers did not see as full of latent meaning.… Calmly and systematically receptive, like Morandi looking at bottles, he found multitude and stability in a few forms.”

—Nicholas Fox Weber, “The Artist as Alchemist,” 1988

Josef Albers

Study to Homage to the Square, 1954

Oil and casein on Masonite in artist's frame

12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 20 3/8 x 20 3/8 inches (51.8 x 51.8 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Fiori (Flowers), 1915

Oil on canvas

29 3/4 x 18 inches (75.6 x 45.7 cm)
Framed: 34 1/2 x 22 5/8 inches (87.6 x 57.5 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1968

Oil on Masonite

15 7/8 x 15 7/8 inches (40.3 x 40.3 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches (41 x 41 cm)

“Nothing, or almost nothing in this world is truly new, what’s important is the new, different perspective an artist chooses to look at the world.”

—Giorgio Morandi, 1926

Sanford Roth, Giorgio Morandi, c. 1946–62, scan from a 35mm negative. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Beulah Roth Bequest. © Museum Associates/LACMA

Sanford Roth, Giorgio Morandi, c. 1946–62, scan from a 35mm negative. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Beulah Roth Bequest. © Museum Associates/LACMA

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1959

Oil on canvas

10 1/8 x 16 inches (25.5 x 40.5 cm)
Framed: 13 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (34.9 x 50.2 cm)

Giorgio Morandi
Fiori (Flowers), 1947
Oil on canvas
11 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 5/8 inches (29.3 x 21.6 x 1.6 cm)
Framed: 15 1/4 x 12 1/4 x 1 3/4 inches (38.7 x 31.1 x 4.4 cm)

“One can travel the world and see nothing. To achieve understanding it is necessary not to see many things, but to look hard at what you do see.”

—Giorgio Morandi, quoted in Michael Kimmelman, “Looking Long and Hard at Morandi,” The New York Times, 2004

Giorgio Morandi
Fiori (Flowers), 1947
Oil on canvas
11 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 5/8 inches (29.3 x 21.6 x 1.6 cm)
Framed: 15 1/4 x 12 1/4 x 1 3/4 inches (38.7 x 31.1 x 4.4 cm)

“One can travel the world and see nothing. To achieve understanding it is necessary not to see many things, but to look hard at what you do see.”

—Giorgio Morandi, quoted in Michael Kimmelman, “Looking Long and Hard at Morandi,” The New York Times, 2004

“Through an admixture of visual grammar and language his pictures reveal startling insights: What happens when gracefulness is juxtaposed against awkwardness? Is human ineptitude thereby understood, tolerated, or ennobled? He juggles disproportionate but equal things and develops exquisite tensions.”

—Wayne Thiebaud, “A Fellow Painter’s View of Giorgio Morandi,” in Giorgio Morandi: Late Paintings, David Zwirner Books, 2017

Giorgio Morandi

Grande natura morta con la lampada a destra (Large still life with the lamp on the right), 1928

Etching on paper

Plate: 10 x 13 3/4 inches (25.4 x 34.9 cm)
Sheet: 17 1/2 x 18 3/8 inches (44.5 x 46.7 cm)
Framed: 19 3/8 x 20 1/4 inches (49.2 x 51.4 cm)

Installation view, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Installation view, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Installation view, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Installation view, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Prints by Giorgio Morandi

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1946

Oil on canvas

10 3/8 x 16 inches (26.4 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 14 1/8 x 19 7/8 inches (35.9 x 50.5 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: In Ivory Mist, 1964

Oil on Masonite

18 x 18 inches (45.7 x 45.7 cm)
Framed: 18 5/8 x 18 3/4 inches (47.3 x 47.6 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1957

Oil on canvas

10 1/4 x 14 inches (26 x 35.6 cm)
Framed: 14 x 17 3/4 inches (35.6 x 45.1 cm)

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”

—Italo Calvino

Giorgio Morandi's Studio, Grizzana. Bologna, 2017. Photo by Francois Halard. © Francois Halard

Giorgio Morandi's Studio, Grizzana. Bologna, 2017. Photo by Francois Halard. © Francois Halard

To inquire about works by Josef Albers and Giorgio Morandi

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Installation view of the exhibition, Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2021.

Josef Albers

Study to Homage to the Square: Quiescent, 1952

Oil on Masonite

16 x 16 inches (40.6 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 22 7/8 x 22 7/8 inches (58.1 x 58.1 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1959

Oil on canvas

10 1/8 x 16 inches (25.5 x 40.5 cm)
Framed: 13 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (34.9 x 50.2 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1968

Oil on Masonite

15 7/8 x 15 7/8 inches (40.3 x 40.3 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches (41 x 41 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Fiori (Flowers), 1915

Oil on canvas

29 3/4 x 18 inches (75.6 x 45.7 cm)
Framed: 34 1/2 x 22 5/8 inches (87.6 x 57.5 cm)

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square, 1965

Oil on Masonite

18 x 18 inches (45.7 x 45.7 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (47.6 x 47.6 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square [Entrez], 1964

Oil on Masonite

18 x 18 inches (45.7 x 45.7 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (47.6 x 47.6 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1939

Oil on canvas

9 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches (23.5 x 31 cm)
Framed: 13 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches (34.3 x 41.9 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: Apodictic, 1950

Oil on Masonite

17 x 17 inches (43.2 x 43.2 cm)
Framed: 17 3/8 x 17 3/8 inches (44.1 x 44.1 cm)

Natura morta (Still Life), 1960

Watercolor on paper

7 7/8 x 9 1/2 inches (20 x 24 cm)
Framed: 15 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches (39.4 x 44.5 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta con bottiglia bianca e piccola bottiglia blu (Still life with white bottle and small blue bottle), 1955

Oil on canvas

13 7/8 x 16 inches (35.2 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 16 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (42.5 x 47.6 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1953

Oil on canvas

11 7/8 x 13 3/4 inches (30 x 35 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 17 5/8 inches (40 x 44.8 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: White Aura, 1968

Oil on Masonite

40 x 40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Framed: 40 1/4 x 40 1/4 inches (102.2 x 102.2 cm)

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square, 1964

Oil on Masonite

24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
Framed: 24 1/2 x 24 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches (62.2 x 62.2 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1963

Oil on Masonite

16 x 16 inches (40.6 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches (41 x 41 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1957

Oil on canvas

10 1/4 x 14 inches (26 x 35.6 cm)
Framed: 14 x 17 3/4 inches (35.6 x 45.1 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1946

Oil on canvas

10 3/8 x 16 inches (26.4 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 14 1/8 x 19 7/8 inches (35.9 x 50.5 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: In Ivory Mist, 1964

Oil on Masonite

18 x 18 inches (45.7 x 45.7 cm)
Framed: 18 5/8 x 18 3/4 inches (47.3 x 47.6 cm)

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square, 1965

Oil on Masonite

24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
Framed: 24 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (62.2 x 62.2 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1959

Oil on canvas

8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Framed: 11 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches (29.8 x 34.9 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), c. 1954

Oil on canvas

12 1/8 x 17 7/8 inches (30.8 x 45.4 cm)
Framed: 16 1/4 x 21 7/8 inches (41.3 x 55.6 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1955

Oil on canvas

11 7/8 x 14 inches (30.2 x 35.6 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches (40 x 45.1 cm)

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square, 1973

Oil on Masonite

16 x 16 inches (40.6 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 16 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches (41.9 x 41.9 cm)

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square, 1973

Oil on Masonite

16 x 16 inches (40.6 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 16 3/4 x 16 3/4 inches (42.5 x 42.5)

Josef Albers

Study for Homage to the Square, 1973

Oil on Masonite

15 7/8 x 15 7/8 inches (40.3 x 40.3 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches (41 x 41 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Grande natura morta con undici oggetti un tondo (Large still life with eleven objects a round), 1942

Etching on paper

Plate: 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches (26.7 x 26.7 cm)
Sheet: 14 3/8 x 17 7/8 inches (36.5 x 45.4 cm)
Framed: 16 3/8 x 19 5/8 inches (41.6 x 49.8 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta con quattro oggetti e tre bottiglie (Still life with four objects and three bottles), 1956

Etching on paper

Plate: 7 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches (20 x 20 cm)
Sheet: 15 3/8 x 11 1/8 inches (39.1 x 28.3 cm)
Framed: 17 x 13 x 1 1/2 inches (43.2 x 33 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Grande natura morta con la lampada a destra (Large still life with the lamp on the right), 1928

Etching on paper

Plate: 10 x 13 3/4 inches (25.4 x 34.9 cm)
Sheet: 17 1/2 x 18 3/8 inches (44.5 x 46.7 cm)
Framed: 19 3/8 x 20 1/4 inches (49.2 x 51.4 cm)

Josef Albers

Untitled (Variant/Adobe), 1958

Oil on Masonite

23 x 35 inches (58.4 x 88.9 cm)
Framed: 24 1/2 x 36 1/2 inches (82.6 x 82.6 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Grande natura morta con la lampada a destra (Large still life with the lamp on the right), 1928

Etching on paper

Plate: 10 x 13 3/4 inches (25.4 x 34.9 cm)
Sheet: 17 3/4 x 20 5/8 inches (45.1 x 52.4 cm)
Framed: 19 5/8 x 22 1/2 inches (49.8 x 57.2 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Grande natura morta con la caffettiera (Large still life with coffee pot), 1934

Etching on paper

Plate: 11 5/8 x 15 3/8 inches (29.6 x 39 cm)
Sheet: 17 x 20 7/8 inches (43.2 x 53 cm)
Framed: 19 x 22 3/4 inches (48.3 x 57.8 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta (Still Life), 1930

Etching on paper

Plate: 9 1/8 x 11 1/4 inches (23.2 x 28.6 cm)
Sheet: 13 3/4 x 19 7/8 inches (34.9 x 50.5 cm)
Framed: 15 5/8 x 21 3/4 inches (39.7 x 55.2 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Grande natura morta circolare con bottiglia e tre oggetti (Large circular still life with bottle and three objects), 1946

Etching on paper

Plate: 10 1/8 x 12 7/8 inches (25.7 x 32.7 cm)
Sheet: 13 7/8 x 16 3/4 inches (35.2 x 42.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 5/8 inches (40 x 47.3 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta con compostiera, bottiglia lunga e bottiglia scannellata (Still life with composter, long bottle and fluted bottle), 1928

Etching on paper

Plate: 9 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches (23.5 x 19.1 cm)
Sheet: 16 1/4 x 12 7/8 inches (41.3 x 32.7 cm)
Framed: 18 1/4 x 14 5/8 inches (46.4 x 37.1 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta con cinque oggetti (Still life with five objects), 1956

Etching on paper

Plate: 5 1/2 x 8 inches (14 x 20.3 cm)
Sheet: 13 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (34.9 x 50.2 cm)
Framed: 15 5/8 x 21 5/8 inches (39.7 x 54.9 cm)

Josef Albers

Study to "Affectionate" (Homage to the Square), 1954

Oil on Masonite

15 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (40 x 40 cm)
Framed: 24 1/8 x 24 1/4 inches (61.4 x 61.5 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Natura morta con fruttiera (Still Life with Fruit Bowl), 1948

Pencil on paper

8 1/8 x 12 inches (20.5 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 1/2 x 19 3/8 inches (39.4 x 49.2 cm)

Fiori (Flowers), 1950

Oil on canvas

13 3/4 x 10 3/8 inches (35 x 26.5 cm)
Framed: 22 x 18 3/4 inches (55.9 x 47.6 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1954

Oil on Masonite

12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 20 3/8 x 20 7/16 inches (51.8 x 51.9 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1954

Oil on Masonite

12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 20 3/8 x 20 3/8 inches (51.8 x 51.8 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: Embedded, 1963

Oil on Masonite

48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
Framed: 48 1/2 x 48 1/2 inches (123.2 x 123.2 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1961

Oil on Masonite

32 x 32 inches (81.3 x 81.3 cm)
Framed: 32 5/8 x 32 5/8 inches (82.9 x 82.9 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1973

Oil on Masonite

15 7/8 x 15 7/8 inches (40.3 x 40.3 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches (41 x 41 cm)

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square, 1965

Oil on Masonite

15 7/8 x 15 7/8 inches (40.3 x 40.3 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches (41 x 41 cm)

Giorgio Morandi

Fiori (Flowers), 1947

Oil on canvas

11 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches (29.3 x 21.6 cm)
Framed: 15 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches (38.7 x 31.1 cm)

Josef Albers

Study to Homage to the Square: From Abroad, 1956

Casein on Masonite

30 x 30 inches (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
Framed: 30 1/2 x 30 1/2 inches (77.5 x 77.5 cm)

Josef Albers

Study to Homage to the Square, 1954

Oil and casein on Masonite in artist's frame

12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 20 3/8 x 20 3/8 inches (51.8 x 51.8 cm)

Download Fact Sheet