Study for nylon rug from Connections
Silkscreen on paper
Support size: 27 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches; Image size: 20 5/8 x 15 1/8 inches
1959 / 1983
As a student at Germany’s progressive Bauhaus school, Anni Albers embodied the institutional ideal of a designer-craftsman. Arriving in this country with her husband, Josef Albers, in 1933, she established the weaving program at Black Mountain College, making it a core component of the curriculum. Fascinated with the tactile properties of materials, Albers sought to dispel the marginalized status of crafts, arguing for their artistic potential and import. She thrived on the limitations of the medium, challenging herself and her students to break through conventional boundaries. For example, in this study for a textile object, Albers “draws” interwoven lines onto the surface of the “fabric,” creating a hypnotic illusion through color and positive and negative space.
As exhibited in:
I AM A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD, 2021, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, North Carolina
Inspired Encounters: Women Artists and the Legacies of Modern Art, 2022–2023, David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center, Tarrytown, New York
Other works by this artist