MUSEO JUMEX PRESENTS PASSERBY 04: ANNI ALBERS
The fourth exhibition in the Passersby series explores the way in which Anni Albers’s (Germany, 1899 - USA, 1994) trips to Mexico influenced her work in different fields; in addition to outlining the personal and professional relationships forged through this experience. Likewise, the exhibition analyzes her oeuvre and draws parallelisms between modern artistic practices and the ancient and contemporary cultures of America.
Annelise Elsa Frieda Fleischmann, known as Anni Albers, was an artist, designer, essayist, collector, researcher, and teacher. She visited Mexico thirteen times with her partner, Josef Albers (Germany, 1888 - USA, 1976), who was also an artist. Together they amassed a significant collection of pre-colonial ceramic miniatures from different cultures of what is now Mexico. At the same time, Anni acquired textile pieces for the Harriet Engelhardt Memorial Collection at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Her travels through different regions of Mexico, in search of archaeological sites, textiles and other local crafts, significantly influenced her work and thinking.
Anni Albers was an avid observer of the textile traditions of multiple cultures, recognizing the weavers of ancient Peru as her great teachers. Her writings show an analytical mind, interested in linking her own thinking regarding the complexity of weaving with a broad understanding of the world she inhabited, so as to transcend it.
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Josef Albers, Anni Albers at Monte Albán, 1939. Courtesy of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. 1976.7.1397 Photo: Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society, NY. D.R. © Josef Albers/ARS/VG Bild-Kunst/SOMAAP/México/2020.
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Lee Boltin, Anni Albers with Pre-Columbian head, 1958. Courtesy of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation 1976.28.926 © Lee Boltin
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Anni Albers, Camino Real, Hotel Camino Real, Mexico City, Mexico, Courtesy of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, 1976.12.1. © Jon Naar Photography
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Anni Albers and Alexander Reed, Necklace, ca. 1940. Courtesy of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation 1994.14.25 Photo: Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society, NY. D.R. © Anni Albers/ARS/VG Bild-Kunst/SOMAAP/México/2020.
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Josef Albers, Anni Albers and local weavers, Santo Tomás, Oax., Coyotepec, Mexico, 1956. Courtesy of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation 1976.7.578 Photo: Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society, NY. D.R. © Josef Albers/ARS/VG Bild-Kunst/SOMAAP/México/2020.
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Imagen: Josef Albers, Anni Albers, Mitla, México, ca. 1936-1937. Cortesía de The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation 1976.7.1161 . Foto: Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society, NY. D.R. © Josef Albers/ARS/VG Bild-Kunst/SOMAAP/México/2020.
Through documents, objects, photographs, reproductions and works by Anni Albers, as well as contributions by other artists, this exhibition offers a contextualized reading of Anni Albers’s passage through Mexico.
