Tenayuca I by Josef Albers - Photo: Cat Bauer |
"Mexico is truly the promised land of abstract art."
---Josepf Albers
Josef Albers was born into a Roman Catholic family in Germany in 1888. He became a student at the innovative Bauhaus art school in 1920, then a teacher, and then a professor. In 1925, he married Anni Fleischmann, a Jewish Bauhaus student who would go on to become one of the world's most prominent textile artists.
When the Nazis shut down the Bauhaus in 1933, the Albers moved to the United States, and landed in North Carolina at the experimental new school, Black Mountain College, where Josepf ran the art program, and Anni taught weaving and textile design.
Josef Albers Mitla (1956)
The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation
©Josef Albers, by SIAE 2018 |
But I think it is because my grandfather was of German descent... and that peculiar German tendency to organize and compartmentalize the abstraction of life... that made the work of Josef Albers strike a deep chord and awaken long forgotten memories.
Study for Sanctuary by Josef Albers (1941-42) - Photo: Cat Bauer |
"Art
is creation. It can be based on, but is independent of knowledge. We
can study art through nature, but art is more than nature. Art is
spirit, and has a life of its own."
---Josef Albers
As Adolf Hitler was busy trying to build a new empire, archeologists in Mexico were rapidly uncovering the ruins of an ancient one. The Alberses were already familiar with pre-Columbian art before they ever arrived in America. During their first trip to Mexico in the winter of 1933-34, they were dazzled by the ruins they witnessed with their own eyes, and returned thirteen times throughout the course of their lives, taking thousands of photographs. They tapped into that ancient pre-Columbian energy and transmuted into their art.
Homage to the Square by Josef Albers (1969) Photo: Cat Bauer |
Click to enlarge |
Josef Albers in Mexico runs from May 19 through September 3, 2018. Go to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection for more information.
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
I was mesmerized by the restrained passion of the Josef Albers in Mexico exhibition that opened today at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection here in Venice.
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