Interaction of Interaction of Color (2017) is a collection books, specifically the 1975 Revised Edition (paperback) of Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color. Published by Yale, these were produced by Murray Printing Company of Westford, MA. Of the 28 known print runs, copies of 26 were obtained. On the back of the book, we find a Free Study with leaves, a collage by Albers’ former student Eva Hesse.
We noticed that between early and later print runs, small changes to Free Study with leaves are present. We contacted Yale about this, who both stated they had no record of alterations and, despite our thoughtful presentation of evidence, denied any difference between the images at all. We politely disagree, and present the material here for your consideration.
Setting aside color differences due to aging, printing technologies, etc—let us call your attention to exhibits 11A and 11B. Those are factually different shapes. Now scan over to 10A and 10B. These are not the same, either! The differences are, as of Spring 2025, unexplained but if we were to guess, the work was rephotographed and at some point the leaves, being old, brittle, and subject to change, changed. Perhaps a restoration attempt was made—close, but not exact. This revelation may not upend the world of conservatorship but, it does remind us that everything, even great works of art in climate-controlled storage facilities, are subject to change.
Interaction of Interaction of Color is similar in spirit to works by folks like the late Rutherford Chang, in that it celebrates how time, production methods, and storage conditions impact the many versions of the same basic object. Initially, John Cage was inspiration for this work—upon exhibiting an early version at Mike Perry’s old place in Brooklyn, folks said, “Hey, you know about Rutherford?” Sadly, we never met.
The actual physical collection of books was gifted to a friend, the Connecticut-based artist Jac Lahav, in 2018. Jac had generously included the work in the Spring/Break art fair (NYC, 2017).
