Anni and Josef Albers were pioneering 20th-century artists whose work, writing, and teaching demonstrably transformed the way that people see color and the processes of making art.
--The Anni & Josef Albers Foundation.
Importance of pedagogy for both; continued impact. Josef=color. Anni=weaving.
Learn more about their teaching.
Learn more about the Bauhaus: Getty Exhibition; Bauhaus Kooperation
Learn more about Black Mountain College: Hammer Exhibition; Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center
1888 Josef Albers [referred to here as JA] is born in Bottrop, Germany
1905 JA earns his teaching certificate and teaches public elementary school
1915 JA is certified as an art teacher, and he begins his own artistic practice
1920 JA enrolls in the Bauhaus at Weimar a year after it opens
1922 Annelise "Anni" Fleischmann and JA meet; Anni is admitted to the Bauhaus
1923 Anni enters the Weaving Workshop
1925 Anni and JA get married; JA is appointed from Student to Master (teacher) and begins teaching the Vorkurs, or preliminary course---an experimental foundational course intended to familiarize students with the use of materials and basic design principles
1926 The Bauhaus moves to Dessau; Anni and JA move into the Masters' houses at Dessau Bauhaus
1930 Mies van der Rohe assumes directorship of the Bauhaus; JA is named Assistant Director
1931 After three years assisting Gunta Stölzl, the Head of the Weaving Workshop, Anni becomes Acting Director of the Weaving Workshop
1933 Nazi harassment prompts the Bauhaus to close; JA and Anni emigrate to Asheville, North Carolina, where they begin teaching at a new, experimental school, Black Mountain College; when asked by immigration authorities his purpose for coming to the US, JA replies, "to open eyes"
1934 JA develops his color course at Black Mountain College
1950 JA accepts the position of chair of the Department of Design at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, and brings his distinctive approach to teaching color with him; Anni starts teaching a select group of students privately at her home, and she later begins to guest lecture architecture students at Yale University and at schools across the US
1958 JA retires from Yale, though continues as a visiting critic at there until 1960; he continues to teach at art schools around the country as a visiting instructor
1963 Interaction of Color is published by Yale University Press with silkscreen plates based on the work of students in Albers' color course
1965 Anni's book On Weaving is published by Wesleyan University Press
1971 JA has a retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; he is the first living artist to do so
1976 JA dies on March 25th in New Haven, Connecticut
1994 Anni dies on May 9th; she is buried next to JA; their grave site is marked with headstones that Anni had designed
For a more complete chronology, visit the Anni & Josef Albers Foundation website.
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