As mesmerizing as Anni Albers’ weavings and prints are, her art represents only a fraction of her achievement. In addition to being one of the most important textile artists of the 20th century, she was a designer, writer and teacher.
Albers was born Annelise Fleischmann in 1899 to a well-to-do Jewish family in Berlin. She studied at the School of Applied Art in Hamburg and then attended the Bauhaus, the utopian workshop founded in Weimar in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius.
The school envisioned a unity of art and design, with the goal of training designers and artisans who could create objects both functional and artistic for mass production. At the Bauhaus, where women’s choices for study were limited, the aspiring Albers ended up in the weaving workshop. Although she initially perceived the discipline as unserious, once she had a thread in hand, she was obsessed.
“I heard Paul Klee speak, and he said to take a line for a walk, and I thought, ‘I will take thread everywhere I can,’” she once told Nicholas Fox Weber, executive director of the Albers Foundation.
At the Bauhaus, Anni met and married fellow student Josef Albers, who would later become a celebrated color theorist and painter. His “Homage to the Square” paintings, which explored the relationships between colors, are now considered modernist masterpieces, and his treatment of color was crucial to the development of the Op art movement.
After graduating in 1930, Anni and Josef both became teachers at the Bauhaus, but when the Nazis came to power, the school was shut down. In 1933, fleeing the Nazis, the couple emigrated to the U.S., where they both became teachers at Black Mountain College, in North Carolina.
Black Mountain, which rejected educational norms and was known for its free-spirited atmosphere, produced many luminaries of modern American art — among them Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly, both students of the Alberses’. In addition to teaching, Anni continued her own artistic practice, making what she called “pictorial weavings”: abstract wallhangings having the same formal qualities as a painting.
The Alberses were fascinated by Latin America even before they crossed the Atlantic, so from North Carolina, they made numerous road trips to Mexico and Peru to collect pre-Columbian art. The influence of the ceramics and textiles the couple discovered in their travels is clear in Anni’s work yet her approach to weaving was unorthodox.
Albers incorporated unusual materials such as cellophane and metallic thread. She intertwined linked threads in innovative ways and added knots as artistic elements, as in “Dotted” Weaving (1959). She created studies using corn kernels, grass, twisted paper, lines made with a typewriter and pin pricks.
In addition to her art pieces, Anni designed many functional textiles for mass production. In 1949, Gropius commissioned her to create fabrics for the Harvard dormitories he designed. Shortly afterward, she was commissioned to design fabrics for the furniture company Knoll. In the late ’50s, Anni began publishing books: On Designing, in 1959, and On Weaving, in 1965.
In her 60s, when it became difficult for her to operate a loom, Anni turned her energies to making prints. Beyond the increased recognition of weaving as an art form, another reason for the renewed interest in Anni’s work is that art history has now turned its lens on women artists who were previously overlooked.
Find Anni Albers rugs, wall decor and original prints on 1stDibs.
$14,000
E /// Anni Albers Female Women Artist Abstract Geometric Screenprint Bauhaus Art
By Anni Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Anni Albers (German-American, 1899-1994) Title: "E" Portfolio: (First) Triadic Series *Signed and dated by Albers in pencil lower right Year: 1969 Medium: Original Screenprin...
Screen
$28,000
Red Meander I /// Anni Albers Bauhaus Abstract Geometric Female Artist Screen
By Anni Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Anni Albers (German-American, 1899-1994) Title: "Red Meander I" Portfolio: Meander *Signed and dated by Albers in pencil lower right Year: 1969-1970 Medium: Original Screenpr...
Screen
Anni Albers, ST - Original Screen Print from 1971, Geometric Abstraction
By Anni Albers
Located in Hamburg, DE
Anni Albers (1899-1994) ST, 1971 Medium: Screenprint on cardboard Dimensions: 83 × 62 cm (32 7/10 × 24 2/5 in) Edition: Not signed, not numbered outside the edition of 150. Condition...
Screen
$22,000
Orange Meander /// Anni Albers Bauhaus Abstract Geometric Female Artist Screen
By Anni Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Anni Albers (German-American, 1899-1994) Title: "Orange Meander" Portfolio: Meander *Signed and dated by Albers in pencil lower right Year: 1970 Medium: Original Screenprint ...
Screen
$4,489
Fox I
By Anni Albers
Located in Paris, FR
Offset, 1972 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 123/150 Catalog : Weber & Danilowitz 29 60.50 cm. x 50.50 cm. 23.82 in. x 19.88 in. (paper) 38.00 cm. x 34.00 cm. 14.96...
Offset
Untitled (Letter to Kathy) - Abstract Pen on Paper Drawing
By Anni Albers
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Untitled", a rare and intimate mixed media on paper piece by Anni Albers, was a personal gift to its owner, Katherine Weber, wife of Albers Foundation president Nicholas Fox Weber, ...
Paper, Felt Pen
Anni Albers, ST - Original Screen Print from 1971, Geometric Abstraction
By Anni Albers
Located in Hamburg, DE
Anni Albers (1899-1994) ST, 1971 Medium: Screenprint on cardboard Dimensions: 83 × 62 cm (32 7/10 × 24 2/5 in) Edition: Hand-signed and numbered in pencil Condition: Very good
Screen
$650
H 16 in W 20 in
Confrontation - line drawing women figures with white dandelions
By Mila Akopova
Located in Fort Lee, NJ
Interior design paintings. The artwork was done with acrylic, watercolor and white felt pen on black watercolor paper 360g. The works are 11,5 by 16,5 inches in size, framed (black) ...
Paper, Acrylic, Watercolor, Felt Pen
$2,336
H 29.93 in W 22.84 in
Untitled from "Kinderstern" - Max Bill, Hard Edge, Color Field, Bright Colors
By Max Bill
Located in Köln, DE
Screenprint by Max Bill. From the portfolio "Kinderstern". No Title, 1989 76 x 58 cm Copy 61/100 Edition of 100 (approx.)
Screen
The Basque Suite: Untitled
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Edition of 150 104.1 x 71.7 cms (41 x 28 1/4 ins)
Screen
Arts for Act poster
By Robert Rauschenberg
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008). "Arts for Act (1994)." Original offset lithograph poster created for the "Arts for Act." 1994. Signed in the plate (Bold Yellow), Additionally si...
Offset
$3,000
H 31 in W 28.5 in D 2.25 in
Geometric Abstraction Color field silkscreen signed Artists Proof, Museum Frame
By Ludwig Sander
Located in New York, NY
LUDWIG SANDER Untitled geometric abstraction Artists Proof, aside from the regular edition of 90 Hand signed and annotated AP on the front Elegantly matted and framed in white wood m...
Screen
$850
H 32 in W 37 in D 0.1 in
Triangle Y, Geometric Abstract Screenprint by Arnold Hoffmann
By Arnold Hoffmann
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Arnold Hoffman, Jr., American (1915 - 1991) Title: Triangle Y Year: circa 1970 Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 10/50...
Screen
$7,500
H 27.5 in W 35 in
Sean Scully - Munich offset print Germany SCARCE when Hand Signed by Sean Scully
By Sean Scully
Located in New York, NY
Sean Scully Munich 1996 (Hand Signed), 2001 Offset Lithograph print Hand signed and dated by Sean Scully in 2018 Boldly signed in black marker on the recto. Hand signed by Sean Scull...
Ink, Permanent Marker, Lithograph, Offset
$700
H 12.5 in W 16.6 in
Abstract Picture (Limited edition print; authorized promotional reproduction)
By Gerhard Richter
Located in New York, NY
Gerhard Richter Untitled Abstract Picture, 2002 Offset lithograph on GardaMatt Art 250 GSM paper Not signed, edition of 3433 12 1/2 × 16 3.5 inches Unframed Printed on GardaMatt Art 250 GSM paper, this beautiful and colorful piece was part of a portfolio of loose plate reproductions for Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes works. Released during his exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Art (Abstract Pictures) and the Museum of Modern Art (Gerhard Richter, 40 Years of Painting). It depicts Richters 1999 Oil on Aluminum abstract picture) More about Gerhard Richter: Gerhard Richter was born in 1932 in Dresden, Germany. Throughout his career, Richter has negotiated the frontier between photography and painting, captivated by the way in which these two seemingly opposing practices speak to and challenge one another. From exuberant canvases rendered with a squeegee and acerbic color charts to paintings of photographic detail and close-ups of a single brushstroke, Richter moves effortlessly between the two mediums, reveling in the complexity of their relationship, while never asserting one above the other. Richter’s life traces the defining moments of twentieth-century history and his work reverberates with the trauma of National Socialism and the Holocaust. In the wake of the Second World War, Richter trained in a Socialist Realist style sanctioned by East Germany’s Communist government. When he defected to West Germany in 1961, a month before the Berlin Wall was erected, Richter left his entire artistic oeuvre up to that point behind. From 1961 to 1964—alongside Blinky Palermo and Sigmar Polke—Richter studied at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he began to explore the material, conceptual, and historical implications of painting without ideological restraint. Richter’s earliest paintings in Düsseldorf, stimulated by a fascination with current affairs and popular culture, responded to images from magazines and newspaper cuttings. Through the 1960s, Richter continued to address found and media images of subjects such as military jets, portraits, and aerial photographs. Notably, he reimagined family pictures he had smuggled from East Germany that included his smiling uncle Rudi, dressed in a Nazi uniform...
Lithograph, Offset
Sonata
By Mark Tobey
Located in New York, NY
A very good, richly-inked impression of this color screenprint on Japon nacré. The deluxe, Roman numeral edition of 60 on Japon nacré, aside from the regular edition of 100. Signed a...
Color, Screen
$1,000
H 20 in W 30 in
Walter Darby Bannard - Sicilian Magician - silkscreen abstract expressionist S/N
By Walter Darby Bannard
Located in New York, NY
Walter Darby Bannard Siciliian Magician, 1980 Silkscreen on wove paper Pencil signed, titled and dated by the artist on the front Unframed Provenance: Bart Gallery, Providence, RI Th...
Screen
Sinjerli Variation I
By Frank Stella
Located in New York, NY
From the artist's Sinjerli Variations series created in 1977, this original print by Frank Stella was created as a lithograph and screenprint in colors on Arches paper. Hand-signed i...
Lithograph, Screen
$1,417
H 9.85 in W 6.3 in D 0.04 in
Jean Dubuffet - Le Hochet - Original Screenprint
By Jean Dubuffet
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Jean Dubuffet Banque de L'Hourloupe Original Card with a title card Original edition of 350 numbered sets with 30 hors commerce Dimensions: 25 x 16 cm Screen printed by Kelpra Studios, London Editions Alecto, London 1967 Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985) Jean Dubuffet was born on July 31, 1901, in Le Havre, France. He attended art classes in his youth and in 1918 moved to Paris to study at the Académie Julian, which he left after six months. During this time, Dubuffet met Raoul Dufy, Max Jacob, Fernand Léger, and Suzanne Valadon and became fascinated with Hans Prinzhorn's book on psychopathic art. He traveled to Italy in 1923 and South America in 1924. Then Dubuffet gave up painting for about ten years, working as an industrial draftsman and later in the family wine business. He committed himself to becoming an artist in 1942. Dubuffet's first solo exhibition was held at the Galerie René Drouin, Paris, in 1944; the Pierre Matisse Gallery gave him his first solo show in New York in 1947. During the 1940s, the artist associated with André Breton, Georges Limbour, Jean Paulhan, and Charles Ratton...
Screen
Sold
H 26.78 in W 26.78 in
Anni Albers (1899 - 1994) - Double Weave - Screenprint on Fabriano paper - 1985
By Anni Albers
Located in Varese, IT
Screenprint on Fabriano paper, edited in 1985. Limited edition of 125 copies, numbered as 46/125 in lower left corner. Hand-signed in pencil by artist in lower right corner. Plate s...
Paper, Screen
GR 1
By Anni Albers
Located in New York, NY
Screenprint in colors on Arches, 1970. Signed by the artist in pencil in lower right margin. Titled and numbered 76/100 in pencil lower left margin. Image is 16 x 20 inches; the f...
Screen
GR I, Eclat Pattern, Silkscreen by Anni Albers 1970
By Anni Albers
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Anni Albers, German/American (1899 - 1994) Title: GR I Year: 1970 Medium: Screenprint on Arches Paper, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 100 Image Size: 20 x 16 inches S...
Screen
Sold
H 32.68 in W 24.41 in
Anni Albers, ST - Screenprint from 1971, Abstract Geometric Art
By Anni Albers
Located in Hamburg, DE
Anni Albers (German-American, 1899–1994) ST, 1971 Medium: Screenprint on cardboard Dimensions: 32 7/10 × 24 2/5 in (83 × 62 cm) Edition: Unsigned and unnumbered print outside the edi...
Screen
Sold
H 30.71 in W 30.71 in
Anni Albers ( 1899 – 1994 ) – Intaglio with Triangles – hand-signed Screenprint
By Anni Albers
Located in Varese, IT
Screenprint on Fabriano paper , edited in 1985 Limited edition of 125 copies signed in pencil by artist and numbered as: 46/125 paper size: 68 x 68 cm ( 26 5/8 x 26 5/8 inch ) very g...
Paper, Lithograph, Screen
GR I, Eclat Pattern, Silkscreen by Anni Albers 1970
By Anni Albers
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Anni Albers, German/American (1899 - 1994) Title: GR I Year: 1970 Medium: Silkscreen on Arches Paper, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 46/100 Image Size: 20 x 16 inches...
Screen
Line Involvement II
By Anni Albers
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
'Line Involvement II', lithograph, edition 20, 1964. Signed, annotated 'Bon à tirer II' in pencil by the artist. A superb, atmospheric impression with rich blacks, on heavy cream, wo...
Lithograph
GR I, Eclat Pattern, Framed Silkscreen by Anni Albers
By Anni Albers
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Anni Albers, German/American (1899 - 1994) Title: GR I Year: 1970 Medium: Silkscreen on Arches Paper, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 100 Image Size: 20 x 16 inches Si...
Screen
GR I, Eclat Pattern, Framed Silkscreen by Anni Albers
By Anni Albers
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Anni Albers, German/American (1899 - 1994) Title: GR I Year: 1970 Medium: Silkscreen on Arches Paper, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 100 Image Size: 20 x 16 inches Si...
Screen
GR I, Eclat Pattern, Framed Silkscreen by Anni Albers
By Anni Albers
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Anni Albers, German/American (1899 - 1994) Title: GR I Year: 1970 Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 100 Image Size: 20 x 16 inches Size: 29 x 24 in. ...
Screen
Sold
H 27 in W 19.5 in D 0.1 in
Triangulated Intaglios, 1972 from Connections 1925-1983
By Anni Albers
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Anni Albers, German/American (1899 - 1994) Title: Triangulated Intaglios, 1972 from Connections 1925-1983 Year: 1984 Medium: Silkscreen, Signed and numbered in pencil Edition...
Screen
Untitled, Abstract Op Art Print
By Anni Albers
Located in Surfside, FL
Vintage Print, not signed or numbered on front, in original period metal frame, by artist Anni Albers. Berlin, Germany, b. June 12, 1899, d. May 9, 1994 Anni Albers was a German-American artist who worked primarily in textiles and, late in life, as a printmaker. She is considered the preeminent textile artist of the 20th century. Albers was born Annelise Else Frieda Fleischmann on June 12, 1899 in Berlin, Germany. Of Jewish descent, her mother was from an aristocratic family in the publishing industry and her father was a furnituremaker. Her interest in art and the visual world was seeded in her childhood and she began painting early on. While studying under an Impressionist from 1916 to 1919, she received harsh criticism from the artist Oskar Kokoschka who viewed her work and bluntly asked, why do you paint? Shortly thereafter, she left the comfort of her affluent lifestyle to attend art school, an environment that contrasted sharply with that of her upper class upbringing. In 1920, she attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg for only two months but eventually arrived at the Bauhaus at Weimar in April of 1922. In her first year, she studied under Georg Muche and Johannes Itten. However, at the time, women were barred from pursuing certain disciplines at the school, particularly architecture. When she was not admitted to a glass workshop with her future husband Josef Albers, she reluctantly switched tracks to weaving. Under the instruction of Gunta Stölzl, Albers came to love the challenges unique to weaving's tactile construction. Anni and Josef...
Screen