Anni Albers
Anni Albers
Untitled
Wallhanging, 1924
Cotton and silk, (66
13/16 x 39 1/2 in.)
Illustration: Anni Albers 1925
Anni Albers, Wall hanging, 1926
Silk. 189.9 x 122 cm (72 x 48 inches)
She was a student at the Bauhaus from
1922 where she meet Josef Albers. She
received her Diploma in 1930, then was
Assistant Director of weaving.
Anni Albers, Black-White-Red, 1964
Reproduction of a 1927 original. Cotton and silk.
175 x 118 cm (68.875 x 46.437 inches)
Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin
“Courage is an important factor in any
creative effort”
“Unburdened by any considerations of
practical application, this uninhibited
play with materials results in amazing
objects, strikingly in their newness of
conception in regard to the use of color
and composition elements-objects of
often barbaric beauty”
“One of the outstanding characteristics of the Bauhaus has
been, to my mind, an unprejudiced attitude toward materials
and their inherent capacities. ”
Textiles of an unusual kind were developed and a new style was
emerging.
The Bauhaus artists were creating textiles that were purely
artistic and had no practical purpose. As time change the
focus of the Bauhaus changed. Only the creative mind can
bring about the transformation of such rational recognition
into a material form.
Physical characteristics of materials now moved into center of
interest. Light-reflection and sound –absorption materials
were developed. Unity became the keynote of work, and with
it the desire to reach a wider public than before.
Anni Albers, With Verticals, 1946
155 x 118 cm (61 x 46.5 inches)
Anni Albers is irrevocably
associated with the Arts and
Crafts Movement. There she
investigated weaving materials
and their properties systematically,
something reflected in her
teaching lifelong. Some saw her
as using unorthodox materials for
weaving, a new idea then but in
sync with the Bauhaus philosophy.
Anni Albers, Monte Alban, 1936
Silk, linen, and wool. 146 x 112 cm (57-3/8 x 44 inches)
Anni married Bauhaus artist
Josef Albers in 1925 and in
1933 when the Bauhaus
closed they immigrated to the
US,
Anni Albers, Black-White-Gold I, 1950
Cotton, jute and metallic ribbon.
63.5 x 48.3 cm (25 x 19 inches)
Anni Albers, Development in Rose I, 1952
Cotton and hemp complex leno weave
55.9 x 43.2 cm (22 x 17 inches)
“Free experimentation can result in
the fulfillment of an inner urge to
give form and to give permanence
to ideas…”
“The more possibilities for attack
the material offers in its
appearance and in its structural
elements, the more it can call forth
imagination and productiveness.
Weaving is an example of a craft
which is many-sided.”
Anni Albers, Tikal, 1958
Cotton, plain and leno weave.
76.2 x 58.42 cm (30 x 23 inches)
Josef was appointed Professor
of Painting and Anni Assistant
Professor of Art, at the new
and progressive Black
Mountain College in North
Carolina. While teaching at
Black Mountain Anni had
worked on industrial prototypes
for textiles
Anni Albers, Variation on a Theme, 1958
Cotton, linen and plastic.
87.6 x 77.5 cm (34.5 x 30.5 inches)
“Independence presume a
spirit of adventurousness- a
faith in one’s own strength.”
Anni Albers, From the East, 1963
Cotton and plastic
65.4 x 42 cm (25 x 16.5 inches)
Anni Albers, Six Prayers, 1965
Cotton, linen, and bast. 185.4 x 50.8 cm (73 x 20 inches)
Collection of The Jewish Museum, New York.
In 1965 Anni Albers was commissioned by The Jewish Museum to make an art work honoring the six million
Jewish victims of the Nazi concentration camps. Six Prayers creates the impression of a sea of humanity—an
infinity of human lives. One feels the connections and connectedness, the force of life itself. The six panels
seem to pulse with blood, to breathe, even to evoke sound. The tone is suitably somber and elegiac, befitting
the tragedy that this interlacing of thread and movement of abstract forms so effectively commemorates.
Anni Albers fabric by Knoll Textiles
Anni Albers began a three decades long collaboration with the internationally recognized
design company Knoll in 1951. During the course of this partnership, Knoll released five of
Anni's designs: Track, Rail, Lattice, Jhet and Eclat. Originally designed in 1974 as an
upholstery pattern, Anni Albers' Eclat, was first produced printed on a cotton/ linen ground
in various scales and color combinations. Reintroduction into the market as part of Knoll's
60th anniversary archival collection celebration in June 2007, Eclat, renamed Eclat Weave, is
now produced as a woven, rather than printed, upholstery.
Anni Albers, DR XX, 1974
Ink and Pencil on Paper. JAAF: 1994.10.58
64.5 x 49.8cm (25.375 x 19.625 inches)
•In1949 they moved to NYC
where Anni was the first weaver
to have a solo exhibition at the
Museum of Modern Art.
•In 1950 when Josef was
appointed Chair of the Dept. of
Design at Yale University, they
move to CT. Anni began work
as a freelance, designing
textiles for Knoll International.
Anni Albers, DR XX (B), 1975
Red Ink on Paper
64.8 x 49.5cm (25.5 x 19.5 inches)
•Anni wrote two books, On
Designing (1959) and On Weaving
(1965).
•Josef died in 1976 and Anni in
1994 at the age of 95.
•In addition to a number of
honorary doctorates she was also
awarded the Gold Medal of the
American Crafts Council for
‘uncompromising excellence.’
Anni Albers, Second Movement V, 1978
Etching/Aquatint
71 x 71 cm (28 x 28 inches)