Oral history interview with Josef Albers
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 11 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Albers, Josef
label: Interviewer
content: Fesci, Sevim
label: Names
content: Bauhaus
label: Names
content: Heckel, Erich, 1883-1970
label: Names
content: Itten, Johannes, 1888-1967
label: Names
content: Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig, 1880-1938
label: Names
content: Schmidt-Rottluff, Karl, 1884-1976
label: Names
content: Stuck, Franz, Ritter von, 1863-1928
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art teachers -- Connecticut -- New Haven -- Interviews
label: Occupation
content: Collagists
label: Occupation
content: Stained glass artists
label: Topic
content: Art, American
label: Topic
content: Die Brücke (Dresden)
label: Topic
content: Painters -- Connecticut -- New Haven -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Albers, Josef
label: Interviewer
content: Fesci, Sevim
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Josef Albers (1888-1976) was a painter and educator in New Haven, Connecticut.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 24 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1968 June 22-July 5
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.albersj68
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Josef Albers conducted 1968 June 22-July 5, by Sevim Fesci, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.
label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.