“The more we avoid standing in the way of the material and in the way of tools and machines, the better chance we have that our work will not be dated, will not bear to stamp of too limited a period of time and be old-fashioned some day.”
—Anni AlbersThe work of Anni Albers, a renowned textile artist and printmaker, is characterized by her use of dynamic geometric shapes, overlapping and arranged to create complex and engaging compositions. She spent her early career studying at the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop in Weimar, Germany where she developed her signature style. Rooted in the Bauhausian ethos, Albers’s work emphasizes on anonymity over individualism, which gives her work timeless attraction. Her prints reflect her intimate knowledge of fiber arts. Finding particular inspiration in the patterned weavings of Andean textiles as they were, in her words, "the most outstanding examples of textile art [from which] we can learn most."i Albers adapts the aesthetic of Andean weaving—vibrant colors, repetitive geometric patterns, and an immaculate sense of spatial balance—to reflect her modernist sensibilities. Examples of her designs were recently on view alongside Andean works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the exhibition Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art.
Man’s Tunic, Peru, Central Coast, 1000-1476 CE, camelid and cotton fibers. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015.291, recently featured in their exhibition Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art, March 5–June 16, 2024. Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Anonymous Gifts, 2015, 2015.291 “I found that, in lithography, the image of threads could project a freedom I had never suspected.”
—Anni Albersi Anni Albers, On Weaving, p. 69-70.
Literature
Gemini G.E.L. 211
Nicholas Fox Weber and Brenda Danilowitz 25Artist Biography
Anni Albers
German-American • 1899 - 1994
Anni Albers was a German-American artist. Born Anni Fleischmann in Berlin, her interest in art was encouraged from a young age, and she enrolled in the famous Bauhaus in 1922. While there, she began to pursue weaving and textile-based works, blurring the line between fine art and craft. Though this medium would come to define Albers’ practice, at the time it was the only course at the Bauhaus that allowed women to enroll. In her second year, she managed to get herself into a stained glass workshop where she met her husband, fellow artist and educator Josef Albers. The pair emigrated to the United States in 1933 due to rising tensions in Europe. Though they encouraged each others’ work, Josef and Anni never collaborated on projects together.
Later in life, Albers became a prolific printmaker. As in her textile work, her prints are characterized by bold geometric patterns and an inventive use of color. Living in the United States afforded her the opportunity to travel extensively in Mexico and South America, where she became interested in and inspired by Pre-Columbian art. Albers passed away in 1994 in her adopted home of New Haven, CT.
8
TR I (G. 211, W. & D. 25)
1970
Lithograph in colors, on special Arjomari paper, with full margins.
I. 14 x 16 in. (35.6 x 40.6 cm)
S. 19 7/8 x 21 3/4 in. (50.5 x 55.2 cm)
Signed, titled, dated '69' and numbered 10/44 in pencil (there were also 6 artist's proofs), published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles (with their blindstamps and inkstamp on the reverse), unframed.
Estimate
$3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $8,890
editions@phillips.com
212-940-1220
Editions & Works on Paper
New York Auction 27 June 2024
