Altoon Sultan blogs about the recent exhibition Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper at the Morgan Library, New York.

Sultan writes: "There are so many beautiful color thoughts in these simple studies… Some of the works were small, quick explorations of color relationships. A fascinating aspect of Albers painting practice was that he never mixed colors; he used color straight from the tube, except for pink and purple, which he mixed. He sampled many different brands of the same hue, writing copious notes on the studies, and in that way, had complete control over the color relationships. I love the note on the bottom of [the] piece: 'Try again'. A quote from Albers tells us: 'I try to create the silence of an icon. That's what I'm after: the meditative icons of the 20th century.' "