Anni Albers was an artist. First a painter, then a weaver. Then a printmaker, when her hand tremors made weaving too difficult.
Considered one of the leading textile artists of the 20th century, Anni was a modernist who melded design with function and craft with fine art to create weavings that were as beautiful as they were useful.
Anni had more than 50 group and solo exhibitions worldwide, and dozens of commissions. She had gold medals from the American Institute of Architects and the American Craft Museum, and four honorary doctorates from universities in the U.S. and Europe. Anni also had CMT.
Born in Berlin in 1899, Anni was immersed in art and music. Recognizing her artistic inclination, her mother nurtured her talent. According to Nicholas Fox Weber, Executive Director of the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, “Anni’s intrinsic artistic skill was not the only reason for which her parents provided her with art tutors and the visits to museum exhibitions when no other children were there.” Anni had Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), he continues. Because of her physical limitations, her parents wanted her to develop other skills to make up for activities she couldn’t do.
Because of CMT, a textile artist is born
In 1922, Anni left home to attend the Bauhaus, a German art and design school that fundamentally reshaped modern architecture and design. There, Anni met and married artist Josef Albers, an abstract painter who became one of the 20th century’s most influential color theorists and art teachers.
At the Bauhaus, Anni studied weaving, but painting was her first choice. She chose weaving, Weber says, because “she was not physically able to climb a ladder which was required for some of the painting courses, and she was not strong enough for metal or carpentry.”
Anni soon came around to textiles as a medium. She writes, “[I]t was threads that caught me, really against my will. … I wanted something to be conquered. But circumstances held me to threads and they won me over.”
Weaving gave voice to Anni’s creativity. “She looked at thread and yarn and saw possibilities that no one else did,” says Weber. He points to her Black – White – Grey wall hanging, originally created in 1927 and reproduced in 1964, and its simple, geometric yet abstract design. It is both beautiful and functional, woven from cotton and silk and designed to absorb sound and reflect light.
A particular way of placing her feet
Anni walked with a cane for most of her life, and her legs were thin. Weber describes how she had “a particular way of placing her feet” when she walked. “Anni had weak legs, ankles, and feet, all absent the normal muscle, as well as high foot arches and hammertoes. Lacking full nerve sensation in her leg and feet, she always had to exercise great care just to walk,” he explains.
According to Albers’ biography, CMT didn’t stop Anni from hiking around Machu Picchu at age 54 or tooling around in her beloved green Mercedes SL140. “Anni refused to be incapacitated by her condition, or even compromised, other than in the few ways that were unavoidable,” Weber writes. “Only in the 1950s did she accept the need for custom-made shoes to help her walk.”
Despite her symptoms, Anni wasn’t diagnosed until she was in her 70s, when the doctor treating her for cancer told her she also had CMT.
From Berlin to printmaking
Rather than comply with the demands of the Third Reich, the Bauhaus closed. The Albers immigrated to America after a chance encounter in Berlin with architect Philip Johnson, to join the Black Mountain School in North Carolina. Josef was invited to lead the visual arts program, and Anni taught weaving while also designing and creating wall coverings and fabrics in addition to her art pieces.
In 1949, the Albers moved to New York City, where Anni became the first woman and the first textile artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Described as one of the most imaginative and daring modern weavers working in the United States, Anni continued to create pieces for mass production and what she described as “pictorial weavings.” In 1963, she switched her focus to printmaking because it was easier on her physically than weaving.
Like with weaving, Anni was inventive in her approach to printmaking. In her Meander series, she printed the same design, moving the screen in one direction and then the other, using only two ink colors to create asingle complex print. This joy in the process, coupled with her artistic vision, led to Anni being hailed as a groundbreaking artist in two disciplines, whose work is celebrated today.
The Albers moved to Connecticut when Josef was appointed head of the newly formed Department of Design at Yale University. Anni lived in Connecticut, where she continued her teaching and printmaking work until her death in 1994.
“Anni would have been fascinated by Jean-Martin Charcot even if she showed no curiosity about the disease that bore his name,” writes Weber. Charcot was a doctor and a skilled painter, which helped him visualize disease patterns. She would have been intrigued by his attention to detail and intelligence, he continues.
“Above all,” Weber says. “[Anni’s] artworks are what she intended them to be: celebrations of human ingenuity that create … visual resting places, a force for beauty that has nothing to do with the self.”
The information provided here is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The CMTA does not endorse any specific products or treatments for CMT. Please consult your doctor before making any healthcare decisions.
