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I f'^f.>' <. .' -f . * r. * ^ * SI 4 ^ : tt •• *1Vv>V^^' < - - V- I m A «.• ) -• i ^i - 3 f *;t %-f ijT « 1* r .' .i •f-.-.^ \ \ '''li. ^ j,.\ Anni Albers '^/iV^v'^'a '#11 m By Nicholas FoxWeber and ""f>' : PandoraTabatabai Asbaghi ,-»' '.4' -r.''"> *. * :>'^A ±_i With contributions by Kelly Feeney, Jean-Paul Leclercq, and Virginia GardnerTroy - K-- Anni Albers (1899-1994) is considered the foremost textile designer ofour century. Albers, one ofthe central figures oftheWeaving Workshop at the Bauhaus, had an enormous effectworldwide on the design ofyard materials es*.?':; i and on the creation ofsingularweavings and wall hangings. This catalogue, accompanying a centennial retrospective ofher work, brings to light a wide selection ofherweavings, drapery materials, andwall coverings as well as the preparatorystudies and graphic works that ^_ s' '••' accompanied them. In addition to full-color reproductions ofAlbers's most important works, it also includes documentation ofscores of her highly influential textile designs. Scholars Virginia GardnerTroy andJean-Paul Leclerq explore the significance ofherwork in the context ofthe history ofWestern and pre- - 'J Columbian textile design; Kelly Feeney discusses her important commission ofark panels for Temple Emanu-El in Dallas; and Albers scholar Nicholas Fox Weber provides an insightful memoir ofthe artist's exploration late in life of H 'I the graphic arts. A comprehensive illustrated chronology details Anni Albers's fascinating life and career in Germanyand in America, both as an independent artist and as the wife ofthe famed painter and instructorJosefAlbers. f^Ji *•/- .'J' A<^ '":: » 5 ..,'•"- ..*-\« * .*'* J. . '*"- «' f »,/«•»<-, ,/" . .' ' .1 >. Anni Albers Anni Albers Nicholas Fox Weber and Pandora Tabatabai Asbaghi GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM Published on the occasion of Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, the exhibition AnniAlbers, March 24-May 24, 1999 organized by Nicholas Fox Weber JosefAlbers Museum, Bottrop, and Pandora Tabatabai Asbaghi June I2-August 29, 1999 Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, September 20-December 31, 1999 TheJewish Museum, New York, February 27-June 4, 2000 Frontcover © 1999TheSolomon R. Guggenheim Draperymaterial, ca. 1944. Commissioned Foundation, NewYork.All rights reserved by PhilipJohnson forRockefellerguest house, NewYork. Plastic, coppertoil, and All works byAnniAlbersandJosetAlbers cotton, 99 X90.5cm (39 x35Vs inches). © 1999TheJosefandAnniAlbers The Metropolitan Museum ofArt, New Foundation, Bethany, Connecticut. Used York, GiftofAnni Albers 1970.75.10a. bypermission. All rights reserved. Backcover ISBN 0-89207-218-0 (softcover) AnniAlbers at BlackMountain College, ISBN 0-8109-6923-8 (hardcover) nearAsheville, North Carolina, 1947, photographed by Nancy Newhall. Guggenheim Museum Publications 1071 FifthAvenue NewYork, NewYork10128 Frontispiece JosefAlbers, Pazcuaro, date unknown. Hardcoveredition distributedby Collageoftwentycontactprints, HarryN. Abrams mounted on cardboard, 25.4x 20.3 cm 100 FifthAvenue (10X 8 inches).TheJosefandAnni Albers NewYork, NewYork looii Foundation, Bethany JAF:PH-553. Design: Nathan Garland Production: EstherYun Editor:Jennifer Knox-White Theoperations and programs ofthe PeggyGuggenheim Collection aresupported by: INTRAPRES^ COLLEZIONE GUGGENHEIM Aermec iGuzzini Illuminazione Arclinea IstitutoPoligraficoeZeccadelloStato Automotive Products Italia Leo Burnett BancaAntoniana PopolareVeneta Lubiam I9n Barbero 1891 Luciano Marcato Bisazza Rex Built-in DEWAG Safilo Group Gretag ImagingGroup Swatch Gruppo 3M Italia Wella Gruppo Imation Italia Zucchi-Ba.ssetti Group Management by Bondardo C'omunicazione The trusteesoftheSolomon R. Ciuggenhcim Foundation gratefully acknowledge the RegioneVeneto for theannualsubsidythatassures theeffective operation o( the PeggyGuggenheim Collection. r/llitalia Official carrie 9 Introduction Contents Nicholas Fox Weber 28 Thread asText: The Woven Work ofAnni Albcrs Virginia Gardner Iroy 64 On the Structure of the Weavings Jea)i-PattlLeclercq 94 ConstructingTextiles AnniAlbers 118 Anni Albers: Devotion to Material Kelly Feeney 124 The Last Bauhausler Nicholas Fox Weber 152 Anni Albers 1899-1994 Pandora I'abatahaiAsbaghi Preface The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is proud to present the first retrospective ofthe art ofAnni Albers to be shown in Europe, and to do so in the centenary year ofher birth. Her Httle-known story and her art, Thomas Krens which is often overshadowed by that ofher husband, Josef belong firmly Director, in the fabric oftwentieth-century Modernism, like a thread in one ofher The Solomon R. Guggenheim weavings. It is a remarkably pure but lively and humane story, touched Foundation by some of the dramatic events that took place in Germany between the two world wars and her emigration to a strange land, the United States. This exhibition has been made possible above all by theJosefand Anni Albers Foundation and by its indefatigable director, Nicholas Fox Weber, who, with PandoraTabatabai Asbaghi, organized this exhibition. While thanking them personally for their leadership ofthe project, I also want to acknowledge how full a partnership with the Albers Foundation this exhibition has been. The Albers Foundation has generously made loans from its collections and has contributed the time and unmatchable expertise ofits excellent staff This is not the first time that the Guggenheim Foundation has had the pleasure ofworking with the Albers Foundation. Our previous collaborations include two highly successful and distinguished exhibitions ofthe work ofJosefAlbers, a full retrospective, which originated in 1988 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as a show devoted to his works in glass, which was shown at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice in 1994 and at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1995. Furthermore, we owe the presence ofimportant paintings and photographs byJosefAlbers in the Guggenheim's collections to the extraordinary generosity ofthe Albers Foundation. My particular gratitude goes to two New York institutions, the Metropolitan Museum ofArt and the Museum ofModern Art, both ofwhich have made many important loans; the cooperation oftheir professional staffs was vital to the success of this presentation. To the many other lenders to the exhibition, who are listed individually elsewhere in this catalogue, I wish to express my most sincere thanks. After it closes in Venice, the exhibition will travel to theJosef Albers Museum in Bottrop, Germany, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, and theJewish Museum in NewYork. It is an honor for the Guggenheim Foundation to be working with these museums, and in particular with Ulrich Schumacher, Marie-Claude Beaud, and Norman Kleeblatt and his colleague Susan Chevlowe at those institutions. Exhibitions presented at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection are inconceivable without all those who generously provide annual funds for its activities, as is gratefully noted elsewhere. For many years, Alitalia has been the Peggy Guggenheim Collection's official airline; the Regione Veneto has provided an annual subsidy since 1981; the loyal and enthusiastic Advisory Board ofthe Peggy Guggenheim Collection, presently led by Luigi Moscheri, has been a key part ofthe collection's success in the eighteen years since it joined the Guggenheim Foundation; and finally, the Intrapress Collezione Guggenheim, numbering twenty distinguished European corporations, earmark their annual support specifically to the cultural programs ofthe collection. Thank you to them all.