White Line Squares

In his “White Line Squares” (often abbreviated as “WLS”) series, Josef Albers experimented with how a simple white line can transform a viewer’s perception of its surrounding colors. Building upon his iconic “Homage to the Square” designs, Albers’s “White Line Squares” showcase four nested squares with a thin white line framing one of the squares. Between 1966 and 1967, Albers developed 17 color schemes for the print series, numbered from I to XVII, and produced them in collaboration with the esteemed Los Angeles print workshop Gemini G.E.L. Each color needed to be applied separately and with incredible precision, as any mishap would ruin the visual effect of the perfect white line.