Josef Albers, a German-born American painter, writer, and educator, played a pivotal role in shaping 20th-century modernism and advancing colour theory. Alongside his wife, Anni Albers, a textile artist and printmaker, he influenced a generation of American artists and designers through his teaching at Black Mountain College in North Carolina and later at Yale University School of Art, where he chaired the design department from 1950 to 1958. Albers is renowned for his "Homages to the Square" series of prints and paintings, created between 1950 and 1975. His seminal work on colour theory, "The Interaction of Colour," was published in 1963.
Born in Bottrop, Germany, Albers pursued art education and obtained certification from the Königliche Kunstschule in Berlin in 1915. He then enrolled at the Bauhaus school in Weimar in 1920. The Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, aimed to integrate architecture, art, and traditional crafts in its innovative curriculum. Albers began teaching the introductory class, Vorkurs, in 1923, covering materials, colour theory, composition, construction, and design.
At the Bauhaus, Albers excelled in various disciplines, designing typefaces and furniture alongside teaching. He drew inspiration from colleagues like the colour theorist Johannes Itten and the artist László Moholy-Nagy. In 1925, when the school relocated to Dessau, Albers became a full professor.
The Nazi Party's pressure led to the closure of the Bauhaus in 1933. As Anni Albers was Jewish, the couple emigrated to rural North Carolina, where Josef joined the faculty of Black Mountain College. They became influential mentors to artists such as Ruth Asawa, Cy Twombly, and Robert Rauschenberg.
In 1950, Albers joined Yale University, heading the Department of Design until 1958. The Alberses' trips to Mexico in the 1950s inspired their work, influencing their use of colour and form.
In 1971, Josef Albers became the first living artist to have a solo retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His "Homages to the Square" series and Anni Albers' textile designs both demonstrate a fascination with colour and geometry.
Albers also created public art pieces, including murals for the Corning Glass and Time & Life buildings in New York City. Walter Gropius commissioned a piece for the Pan Am Building, which Albers named "Manhattan," reworking a glass piece from his Bauhaus days.
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