Anni Albers

In the display case, you can see various material samples by Anni Albers. For her, understanding and using different materials was fundamental to the work of a weaver. In a text from 1944, she writes:

“The conception of a work gives only its temper, not its consistency. Things take shape in material and in the process of working it, and no imagination is great enough to know before the works are done what they will be like.”

This interest in materials goes back to her early years in the weaving workshop at the Bauhaus. In the first years of the weaving class, traditional materials such as wool, cotton and silk are still the main focus. As in other departments, however, great importance is soon placed on experimenting with new, innovative materials suitable for industrial use. In weaving, for example, new synthetic fibres are introduced: viscose, artificial silk and even cellophane. These are far cheaper, readily available and produced in Germany. Cellophane, made from plant-based cellulose pulp, can be processed into an extremely thin, transparent and flexible fabric. Combined with other materials such as linen, it can be woven into a translucent textile.

Albers frequently combines different materials within a single textile. In the display case, you can see combinations of cotton or jute with viscose, cellophane, cellulose acetate, aluminium yarn, metal foil or paper strips. Depending on the function of the textile, she varies these combinations to create fabrics that are, for example, translucent or reflective. In 1939, she informs a client:

“The samples with the metal thread do not tarnish. This metal is even washable [and] can be used as drapery or as wall covering material.”

But even in her works that, as she puts it, lie “in the direction of art”, she uses different materials and combinations to achieve specific effects.