Structural Constellation VI,

1955–60

In 1949–50, Albers launched two important series: Homage to the Square and Structural Constellations, which inspired a group of later murals and sculptures for architectural settings. Perceptual ambiguity, or the conflict between what we actually see and what we think we see, is at the heart of drawings like these. Rendered with an extraordinary economy of means, the Structural Constellations are two-dimensional renderings of three-dimensional objects. These objects are elusive and contradictory, however, not least because they are impossible things that could never exist in real space. Depicted from multiple points of view simultaneously, the forms appear to rotate and shift, suggesting movement without depicting it outright. Formally, the lines and planes that comprise these curious shapes recall the wings and hinges of Lygia Clark’s bichos, one of which is on view in this gallery.