• Three artists in Hidden’s collection shaped 20th century minimalist art: Josef Albers, Frank Stella and Agnes Martin. Together, their careers span continents and schools of thought—from the revolutionary Bauhaus in Germany to the expansive skies of New Mexico. In this article, we examine the life and work of these genre-defining artists.
  • Josef Albers , A Pioneering Artist and Teacher Josef Albers , A Pioneering Artist and Teacher Josef Albers , A Pioneering Artist and Teacher Josef Albers , A Pioneering Artist and Teacher Josef Albers , A Pioneering Artist and Teacher

    Josef Albers

    A Pioneering Artist and Teacher

    We begin in the early 20th Century Germany, with one of Modern Art's most influential figures: Josef Albers. Albers enrolled in The Bauhaus in 1920 and then became a faculty member just two years later. As a pioneering art institution, The Bauhaus was philosophically rooted in the connection between socialism and mechanical innovation. The Founder, Walter Gropius, sought to create a school where pupils were encouraged to create the material conditions from which a utopian society could blossom – with functionality and aesthetic beauty existing together in harmony. The work produced in the school often embraced a clarified and minimal use of line and geometric forms. 

     

    However, following the rise of fascism in Germany, in 1933, Josef and his wife Anni Albers emigrated to the United States. Albers taught at Black Mountain College and then Yale, taking the radical modernist philosophies with him and inspiring the next generation of young American artists. It was in America, during the 1950s, that Albers began his magnum opus: the Homage to the Square series. He worked for the next 25 years and produced hundreds of paintings composed of nested squares, testing the effects of different compositions and colour relationships. It marked a new—daringly minimal—frontier of Modern art. Through this disciplined practice, Albers laid the groundwork for generations of minimalist and conceptual artists who followed in America and Europe. 

  • Frank Stella, The Father of Modern Minimalism Frank Stella, The Father of Modern Minimalism Frank Stella, The Father of Modern Minimalism Frank Stella, The Father of Modern Minimalism Frank Stella, The Father of Modern Minimalism Frank Stella, The Father of Modern Minimalism

    Frank Stella

    The Father of Modern Minimalism

    While Albers was nearing the end of his teaching career in America, a young American named Frank Stella was beginning to make waves in New York. At just 24 years old, Stella had secured an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; In 1970, he became the youngest artist ever to receive a MoMA retrospective.  

     

    In the 1960s, Stella achieved critical acclaim with a series of stark, monochromatic paintings made using industrial house paint. Stella’s “Black Paintings” marked a significant turning point in the History of Modern Art. They embodied a shift from an understanding of abstraction that saw the artwork as a “metaphor” toward something...simpler. Unlike traditional painters, Stella approached painting not as a “window” into another world, but as an object in and of itself. He famously stated, “What you see is what you see” — typifying the minimalist ethos of a direct, unembellished experience between the object and viewer.  

  • Agnes Martin, From New York to New Mexico Agnes Martin, From New York to New Mexico Agnes Martin, From New York to New Mexico Agnes Martin, From New York to New Mexico Agnes Martin, From New York to New Mexico Agnes Martin, From New York to New Mexico Agnes Martin, From New York to New Mexico

    Agnes Martin

    From New York to New Mexico

    Stella was not the only artist shaking things up in New York in the 50s and 60s. Across town, a Canadian Artist named Agnes Martin was also rising to critical acclaim. However, in 1967, at the height of her career thus far, Martin gave up her worldly possessions and completely vanished. A year later, at the age of 56, she resurfaced in New Mexico, moved to a remote hill twenty miles from the nearest highway, and built herself a house stone by stone.  

     

    Martin lived a minimal—deeply spiritual—existence. Her artistic practice embodied her search for psychic clarity; her works reflected an ideal calm and meditative state. It was in seclusion in New Mexico that she would go on to produce some of the famed paintings of her mature period: huge, 6ft by 6ft canvases comprised of tiny grids, washed in colours that evoke the desert landscape. The formula is minimal, but the impact is sublime. These works have gone on to become some of the most influential in the history of Modern art.  

  • The wide variety of artistic styles, genres and movements in Art History reflect the diversity of human nature: some artworks are bold, expressive and unapologetically loud—while others are more quiet, meditative, and contemplative. 
    Minimalist artworks might not shout as loudly as their abstract expressionist cousins, but over the 20th century, Albers, Stella and Martin nonetheless revolutionised the History of Modern Art, inviting us to slow down, look closely and find strength in simplicity.

  • Browse our Minimalist works...

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    • Josef Albers, Homage to the Square, 1971
      Josef Albers, Homage to the Square, 1971

       
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    • Frank Stella, Cato Manor, from Multicolored Squares I, 1972
      Frank Stella, Cato Manor, from Multicolored Squares I, 1972
      £ 6,500.00
      Available
    • Agnes Martin, Untitled IV from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      Agnes Martin, Untitled IV from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      £ 1,150.00
      Available
    • Agnes Martin, Untitled VI from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      Agnes Martin, Untitled VI from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      £ 1,150.00
      Available
    • Agnes Martin, Untitled V from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      Agnes Martin, Untitled V from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      £ 1,150.00
      Available
    • Agnes Martin, Untitled VII from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      Agnes Martin, Untitled VII from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      £ 1,150.00
      Available
    • Agnes Martin, Untitled VIII from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      Agnes Martin, Untitled VIII from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      £ 1,150.00
      Available
    • Agnes Martin, Untitled X from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      Agnes Martin, Untitled X from Paintings and Drawings 1974-1990, 1991
      £ 1,150.00
      Available