Josef Albers (1888-1976) and Anni Albers (1899-1994) are among the most famous artists of the 20th C.  Initially teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin before fleeing the Nazis and emigrating to American in 1933, they taught at the Black Mountain College and later at Yale where Josef was the Chair of the Department of Design at the Yale School of Art.  While Josef’s Homage to the Square motif explored color and form, Anni used textiles and then prints to explore patterns and light.

We became fascinated with Anni’s work when we saw an exhibit of her prints at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College in 2016.  We were fortunate to be able to acquire the entire edition of nine  prints from the Albers Foundation, and they now adorn the walls of our home.  Since then we’ve become fascinated with this interesting woman, and when I saw this volume on my sister’s bookcase, I was thrilled to read it.

Lake Verea is the adopted name of the duet of artist photographers, Francisca Rivero-Lake Cortina and Carla Verea Hernandez. Based in Mexico City, their work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale and was part of an exhibit in New York which featured work by Josef Albers and one of Anni Albers’ Bauhaus students, Sheila Hicks. It was at that exhibit that they became interested in the work of the Albers and where they also met the Curator of the Albers Foundation.  That fortuitous meeting led to their access to the archives of the Foundation which they photographed with sensitivity and insight.  Those photographs, from Josef’s tubes of paint and artist’s tools to Anni’s car keys, loom, and sketches, along with Lake Verea’s commentary comprise the contents of this lovely book. The photographs of the sketches and unfinished trial drawings, paintings, and weavings demonstrate the artistic process and the artists’ lives on an intimate level.

While Josef Albers has long been recognized as an original and innovative painter, it is only recently that Anni Albers’ work has begun to be so appreciated. The show at the Davis Museum has been followed by exhibits at the Tate and MOMA, as this quiet textile artist takes her place next to her husband as a giant of the 20th C.