“Josef Albers (American, born Germany, 1888–1976) is a central figure in 20th-century art, both as a practitioner and as a teacher at the Bauhaus, Black Mountain College, and Yale University. Best known for his iconic series Homages to the Square, Albers made paintings, drawings, and prints and designed furniture and typography. The least familiar aspect of his extraordinary career is his inventive engagement with photography, which was only discovered after his death. The highlight of this work is undoubtedly the photocollages featuring photographs he made at the Bauhaus between 1928 and 1932. At once expansive and restrained, this remarkable body of work anticipates concerns that Albers would pursue throughout his career: seriality, perception, and the relationship between handcraft and mechanical production.
The first serious exploration of Albers’s photographic practice occurred in a modest exhibition at MoMA in 1988, The Photographs of Josef Albers. In 2015, the Museum acquired 10 photocollages by Albers—adding to the two donated by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation almost three decades ago—making its collection the most significant anywhere outside the Foundation. This installation celebrates both this landmark acquisition and the publication of One and One Is Four: The Bauhaus Photocollages of Josef Albers, which focuses exclusively on this deeply personal and inventive aspect of Albers’s work and makes many of these photocollages available for the first time.” — MoMA
Josef Albers (American, born Germany 1888-1976). Marli Heimann, All During an Hour. 1931/1932. Gelatin silver prints mounted to board, 11 11/16 x 16 7/16″ (29.7 x 41.8 cm) overall. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. © 2016 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: John Wronn
Josef Albers (American, born Germany 1888-1976). Paul Klee, Dessau. 1929/1932. Gelatin silver prints mounted to board, 11 11/16 x 16 7/16″ (29.7 x 41.8 cm) overall. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. © 2016 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: John Wronn
Josef Albers (American, born Germany 1888-1976). Paris, Eiffel Tower. 1929/1932. Gelatin silver prints mounted to board, 11 5/8 × 16 3/8″ (29.5 × 41.6 cm) overall. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, and Jon L. Stryker. © 2016 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: John Wronn
Josef Albers (American, born Germany 1888-1976). El Lissitzky, Dessau. 1930/1932. Gelatin silver prints mounted to board, 11 5/8 × 16 3/8″ (29.5 × 41.6 cm) overall. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, and Jon L. Stryker. © 2016 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: John Wronn
Josef Albers (American, born Germany 1888-1976). Untitled (Bullfight, San Sebastian). 1930/1932. Gelatin silver prints mounted to board, 11 5/8 × 16 3/8″ (29.5 × 41.6 cm) overall. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, and Jon L. Stryker. © 2016 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: John Wronn
Organized by Sarah Hermanson Meister, Curator, with Kristen Gaylord, Beaumont and Nancy Newhall Curatorial Fellow, Department of Photography.” — MoMA
Images courtesy The Museum of Modern Art.
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