The simple square appears across multiple movements throughout the Modern and Contemporary eras, from Geometric Abstraction to Minimalism and Post Modernism. Artists return to it over and over again as a reliable foundation for greater exploration.

From the square, artists explored new dimensions of color, shape, form, and movement. Some spend an entire career, like Josef Albers, dedicated to singing the praises of its mathematical constancy. Ryman, Kelly, and Stella use it to study color. Mangold, Judd, and LeWitt explore the square as a container for space and movement. Tomasello, Stansczak, Anuszkiewicz, and Vasarely build twisting optical illusions with it. And finally, Polk Smith and Knoebel study what happens when the square is allowed to expand beyond its own borders and assume new dimensions.

This collection, this bouquet of squares, examines how each of these twelve artists approached and utilized the form to create something bigger than itself.