Anni Albers

Abstract

Anni Albers (1899-1994) was a textile designer, weaver, writer and printmaker, who was among the leading pioneers of twentieth-century modernism. Throughout her fruitful career she inspired a reconsideration of fabrics, both in their functional roles and as wall hangings, truly establishing thread and weaving as a valid medium for art. In her later years, Albers took up print-making, translating many of her persistent themes and ideas into two-dimensional form. But while Albers has been extremely influential for younger generations of artists and designers, her contribution to modernist art history has, until now, been rather overlooked. In 2018, a groundbreaking exhibition, together with this accompanying publication will present Albers's most important works to fully explore and redefine her contribution to twentieth-century art and design, and highlight Albers's significance as an artist in her own right, rather than alongside her husband Josef. Contextualising Albers's early career at the Bauhaus, and her teaching years at Black Mountain College, this beautifully illustrated book will showcase major commissioned works, wall hangings, designs for commercial use, drawings and studies, jewellery designed and made by Albers and a selection of her prints.

Contents

Anni Albers : a many-sided artist / Ann Coxon and Maria Müller-Schareck -- Close to the stuff the world is made of : weaving as a modern project / Briony Fer -- Works -- The Bauhaus workshops / Magdalena Droste -- Monumental : developing a wall covering / T'ai Smith -- Black Mountain College exercises / Briony Fer -- Discovering Monte Albán / Maria Minera -- Tangles, knots, braids, loops, and links / Brenda Danilowitz -- Anni Albers as collector / Jennifer Reynolds-Kaye -- Exhibiting textiles : MoMA 1949 / Priyesh Mistry -- The language of threads / Maria Müller-Schareck -- Temple commissions and Six prayers / Ann Coxon -- Process and metamorphosis : printmaking / Nicholas Fox Weber -- An artistic legacy / Ann Coxon.