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ANNI ALBERS MOST INFLUENTIAL TEXTILE ARTIST OF THE 20^TH CENTURY

FULL NAME: Annelise Elsa Frieda Fleischmann Albers

BORN: JUNE 12, 1899, BERLIN, GERMANY

DIED: MAY 9, 1994, ORANGE, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A.

NATIONALITY: GERMAN/AMERICAN

The German Bauhaus art movement included everything from architecture to object design, furniture to textiles.

THE ART OF WEAVING

Anni Albers was the most significant textile designer of the 20th century. Technically, “textiles” refer to any woven objects, such as items made from yarn, fibers, or any other material, that can be used for practical or decorative purposes. This includes anything from a quilt or clothing to wall hanging or sculpture. Textiles have been around since the earliest civilizations, but textile arts had a surge in popularity at the start of the 20th century. Anni played a pivotal part in this: she helped re-establish textiles as an art form.

Anni and her husband, Josef Albers, were members of the Bauhaus movement—a German art movement that celebrated the connection between architecture and crafts. Anni’s distinctive textile works had a very architectural and industrial feel to them. This was a completely new take on the traditional world of textiles as a very delicate and feminine craft. Anni used everything to create her pieces, including metal, plastic, and even horse hair. Anni and Josef moved to the U.S.A. after the outbreak of World War II, when the Nazi Party closed the Bauhaus School. In 1949, Anni had a solo exhibition at New York’s prestigious Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)—she was the first textile artist ever to do so. Anni was also a very talented printmaker, but it was for her textile work that she made the biggest mark on the history of art. For Anni and Joseph Albers, art was part of everyday life. Anni’s groundbreaking work, combined with the Albers’ shared artistic vision, remains the single biggest contribution to textile art of the 20th century.

WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY

DOROTHEA LANGE

MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE

Female photographers have had a considerable role to play in the advancement of photography, both as an important art form and a hard-hitting social commentary that can make us change the way we perceive our very existence.

Julia Margaret Cameron saw photography as an opportunity to tell a story, and even to see into a person’s very soul. Diane Arbus and Sarah Moon had great talent and unique style, while Annie Leibowitz is famous across the globe for her gorgeous contemporary portraits. Dorothea Lange, Margaret Bourke-White, and Lee Miller had great courage as well as an incredible eye, and each brought something unique: Dorothea gave heart to the genre of photojournalism; Margaret epitomized bravery as a pioneering combat zone photographer; and Lee Miller, model-turned-war correspondent/photographer, delivered honest accounts of life in war. Their remarkable work can be seen online and in galleries and museums all over the world.

LEE MILLER

ANNIE LEIBOWITZ