Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Anni Albers Papers, 1924-1969, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.albeanni
Creators:
Albers, Anni
Dates:
1924-1969
Languages:
One item is in German.
Physical Description:
0.2 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of artist and weaver Anni Albers measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1924-1969. They consist primarily of printed materials about Alber's exhibitions, Bauhaus training, and Black Mountain weaving classes.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The papers of artist and weaver Anni Albers measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1924-1969. They consist primarily of printed materials about Alber's exhibitions, Bauhaus training, and Black Mountain weaving classes.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as one series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Printed Materials, 1929-1969 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Anni Albers (1899-1994) was a textile designer, weaver, writer, and printmaker who worked in Connecticut and at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
Anni Albers was born in Germany in 1899 and attended the Bauhaus where she met her husband designer Josef Albers in 1922; they married in 1925. At the Bauhaus. she experimented with new materials for weaving and executed richly colored designs on paper for wall hangings and textiles in silk, cotton, and linen yarns.
When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, the Albers lived alongside the families of artist teachers Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Oscar Schlemmer, and others in one of the masters' houses designed by Gropius. In 1933, the Albers emigrated to the U.S. to work at the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Both taught at Black Mountain until 1949. During these years Anni Albers' weavings were shown throughout the US and she published many articles on textiles and design, culminating in a 1949 show at the Museum of Modern Art, the first of its kind for a textile artist.
In 1950, Josef accepted the position of chair of the design department at Yale and the Albers moved to Connecticut. During the 1950s and 1960s, Anni worked productively from a home studio, producing fabric patterns, creating "pictorial" weavings, and writing articles and books about weaving, including On Designing in 1952 and On Weaving in 1965. During the 1960s she also started printmaking and devoted much of her later career to this artform.
Anni Albers died in Connecticut in 1994.

Administration

Author
Barbara Aikens
Provenance
Anni Albers donated the papers in 1969.
Processing Information
The collection was processed in 2011.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Anni Albers papers, 1924-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions on Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Terms of Use
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Related Material
Also found among the holdings of the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Anni Albers by Sevim Fesci on July 5, 1968.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art teachers -- Connecticut -- New Haven Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Authors -- Connecticut -- New Haven Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printmakers -- Connecticut -- New Haven Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weavers -- Connecticut -- New Haven Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women educators Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women authors Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women printmakers Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women textile artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bauhaus Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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