Josef Albers - Munich 1972 Olympic Games, from the Deluxe signed limited edition (Danilowitz 213), 1970

Josef Albers - Munich 1972 Olympic Games, from the Deluxe signed limited edition (Danilowitz 213), 1970

Color silkscreen on 250-gram Schöllers hammer paper

Pencil signed and numbered 63/200 - silkscreen from the Deluxe, hand signed edition on Schollers hammer paper
(aside from the unsigned regular edition of 4000 on wove paper)
Printed by Sirocco Screenprints, New Haven. Published by Ives-Sillman, Inc., New Haven, for Edition Olympia 72
By Josef Albers - famous color theorist and longtime influential head of the Yale University Art Department. It features Albers signature ‘cinetic window’, and is an impressive piece of art and sports history. This is one of only 200 hand signed, dated and numbered prints - (NOT to be confused with the open poster edition of the same image on different paper, which, unlike the present work, only bears the artist's printed signature.) The present work was created in 1970 for the 1972 Munich Olympics. In anticipation of hosting the 1972 summer Olympics, Germany sought to create a positive image for itself. As Arnold Schwarzenegger would write in his memoir "Holding the Olympic Games in Munich was meant to symbolize West Germany's transformation and reemergence in to the community of nations as a modern democratic power". The Munich Olympics were billed as "the happy games" - a term that would become tragically ironic. In spite of, or rather because of, the ruthless killing of Israeli athletes by terrorists during the Munich Olympics, prints like this Albers silkscreen have become a powerful symbol of the enduring power of art to bring cultures together and promote peace. This Josef Albers Olympic print is one of the most famous and sought-after examples from this series commissioned to celebrate art, sport and the international community. As the color is blue and white, it is, almost presciently, albeit inadvertently, a subtle and poignant homage to the Israeli flag.

Catalogue Raisonne Reference: Danilowitz, 213