1888 Born in Bottrop, Westphalia, formerly West Germany.
1920 He enrolls in the Bauhaus. He completed a work of technique that combines fine colored glass. He was invited to establish a glass workshop.
1923 He teaches in the Bauhaus basics with Laszlo Moholy Nagi.
1933 He emigrated to the United States as the Bauhaus was forced to close by the Nazis. He became a teacher at Black Mountain College, known for the graduation of many American contemporary artists.
1949 He retires from Black Mountain College. He started producing the "Homage of Square" series.
1950-1958 He taught as a chairman in design studies at Yale University.

1964 Completed 8 sets of monochromatic lithographs "Midnight and Noon" at Tamarind Lithograph Print Studio in Los Angeles.
That same year, he received the Medal of the Year from the American Graphic Arts Association.
In the same year, he held a retrospective exhibition "Josef Albers: Homage of Square" organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
1974 He completed the screen print series "Gray Instrumentation" with Tyler Graphics.
He died on March 25, 1976.

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The "Study for Homage to the Square" series was used as a design in the 2008 Hermès Limited Edition scarf project "Hommage au Carré".