These rectilinear abstract designs based on color relationships reflect the principles of Albers’s studies at the Bauhaus. Philip Johnson, The Museum of Modern Art’s curator of architecture, invited Anni and her husband, Josef, to teach at the newly created Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where Anni ran the weaving program from 1933 to 1949. A gifted teacher, she relied heavily on her Bauhaus experience of hands–on experimentation with materials and of focus on the industrial aspects of textile production. Through Johnson she became the first textile artist to be given a one–person exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, in 1949.

Gallery label from

Designing Modern Women 1890–1990, October 5, 2013–October 1, 2014.

Medium Gouache and pencil on paper
Dimensions 13 3/4 x 9 3/8" (34.9 x 23.8 cm)
Credit Gift of the designer
Object number 399.1951
Department Architecture & Design

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Anni Albers

Anni Albers

American, born Germany. 1899–1994 176 works online

Reflecting back on her career, Anni Albers recalled how “threads…caught me…against my will…. But circumstances held me to threads and they won me over.

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