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Annelise “Anni” Fleischmann was raised in Berlin. As an adult, she enrolled at the Bauhaus hoping to specialize in carpentry, metalwork, or mural painting, but her gender relegated her to weaving. She and her husband Josef Albers became icons at the school, and the new Dessau location gave Anni the opportunity to compose woven, mixed-media wall hangings with the same concepts used in printing and painting.

When the Nazis closed the Bauhaus and the Alberses moved to North Carolina, Anni served as interpreter for Josef’s classes at the newly opened Black Mountain College and taught the weaving workshops; both men and women were encouraged to learn weaving. In addition to teaching, Anni completed commissions, wrote articles, and once guest lectured at the Penland School of Craft. The couple also traveled extensively, visiting Mexico fourteen times while at BMC, and then visiting Chile and Peru before moving to New Haven, Connecticut. Anni continued to publish her writing and complete prestigious commissions for the rest of her career.