Oral history interview with Josef Albers, 1968 June 22-July 5 [sound recording].

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Albers, Josef. Oral history interview with Josef Albers, 1968 June 22-July 5 [sound recording].

Oral history interview with Josef Albers, 1968 June 22-July 5 [sound recording].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/613316244

An interview of Josef Albers conducted 1968 June 22-July 5, by Sevim Fesci, for the Archives of American Art. This interview was conducted in New Haven, Connecticut. Albers speaks of his childhood in the industrial area of Westphalia, Germany; his father's influence as a house painter and set designer; his young interest in technical toys; his educational history, beginning at the Royal Art School, an art teacher prep school; his education in art history in conjunction with fine arts; his brief experience teaching in public schools; his time studying at the Applied Art School in Essen while living and teaching in Berlin; and the beginning of professional career after having passed his exam in Berlin in 1915. He discusses the influence of the European movements/artists, Die Brucke; Schmidt-Rottluff, Heckel, and Kirchner; his move to Munich and time spent working with Stuck (the teacher of Kandinsky and Klee); his eventual shift to the Bauhaus working in collage and stained glass under Itten; his refusal to do the traditional apprenticeship at the Bauhaus and surprising success with stained glass while striking out on his own; his initial experiments while working in the new studio for stained glass at the Bauhaus with frosting (a.k.a. thermometer style); his move from collage to montage; his disbelief in the use of past art as a source for current art; his distaste for the concept of art as self-expression; his use of repetitive forms in his painting as a method of "solving the problem;" his belief that the spectator makes the vision of the artist more lively; his belief that he teaches philosophy (how to see) not technique (how to paint); the fine line between influencing students and creating disciples; color as the most relative medium in art and a study of ourselves; his use of squares (the most man-made form), beginning in 1949; the role of art in society to reveal visually the attitude of our mentality; and his belief as to the future of art as being a further consideration of order.

Sound recordings: 1 sound tape ; 7 in.Transcript: 24 p.

Smithsonian Archives of American Art

Smithsonian Archives of American Art

Related Entities

There are 8 Entities related to this resource.

Itten, Johannes, 1888-1967

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Bauhaus.

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Educational institution. From the description of Photographs of Bauhaus students, teachers, and exhibits, 1919-1933. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 81840731 From the description of Postcards about the Bauhaus, 1922-1926. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78683279 The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 by the architect Walter Gropius as a school of art, architecture, and crafts, with the focus on instruction in the unity between the fine and applied arts and i...

Stuck, Franz ˜vonœ 1863-1928

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Heckel, Erich, 1883-1970

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German artist, member of the artist group "Die Brücke." From the description of Letters sent to Wilhelm and Elisabeth Mayer, 1918-1968. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 82773930 German painter, member of the artist group "Die Brücke". From the description of Letters, 1910-1957. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81295427 ...

Fesci, Sevim

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ww8gxs (person)

Albers, Josef

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63b618g (person)

Josef Albers was born in Bottrop, Germany, on March 19, 1888. He studied art in schools in Berlin, Essen, and Munich before joining the Bauhaus school in 1920. From the completion of his studies in 1923 until the school was closed by the Nazis in 1933, Albers remained at the Bauhaus as a teacher. In 1933 Albers joined the faculty of Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where he remained until 1950 when he accepted an appointment as chairman of the Yale University Department of Design. He re...

Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig, 1880-1938

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German artist. From the description of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner letters and papers, 1905-1946. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 145993660 From the description of Composition studies, 1919. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 79065212 ...

Schmidt-Rottluff, Karl, 1884-1976

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kh0tkt (person)