joseph scissorhands: The Anni & Josef Albers Donation

Sunday, 11 December 2022

The Anni & Josef Albers Donation

Josef Albers - Homage to the Square (Against Air), 1967

"I think art parallels life. Colour in my opinion, behaves like a man [...] in two distinct ways: first in self-realisation and then in the realisation of the relationship with others." - Josef Albers.

How wonderful to come across this small display at Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris on my recent visit to the French capital. It comprises an important donation to the museum of fifty seven works by the Anni and Josef Albers Foundation based on the major exhibition of the dynamic duo's work at the museum from September 2021 to January 2022. The gift comprises twenty two works by Josef (1888-1976) and thirty five by Anni (1899-1994). It is an important addition to the museum as they previously had no works by these two important artists. The donated works represent all stages in the creative lives of both artists - from their beginnings at the Bauhaus, their period at BlackMountain College, and then in Connecticut and particularly in the case of Josef at Yale University. The works encompass all of their techniques and materials - painting, weaving, drawing, photography and a variety of print. Anni and Josef met in 1922 at the Bauhaus art school and were married three years later. In 1933 they migrated to the United States where they were invited to teach at Black Mountain College an experimental liberal arts college in the mountains of North Carolina. In this environment Josef intensified his research into colour whilst Anni continued to explore different weaving techniques. The body of work produced by them contributed to the foundations of modern art is still influential today especially to myself. Their artworks still look so fresh and modern. Anni's work and that of the other weavers at the Bauhaus were instrumental in the development of my Struktur artworks. I will be expanding on these with a series of new works to be revealed in the new year.