Josef and Anni Albers - Design for Living

Fox Weber/Filling

back to short view

This book pays homage to everyday objects designed by Josef and Anni Albers, such as textiles, wall hangings, furniture, greeting cards, book covers and jewellery.

Review

This catalogue was published for the eponymous exhibition, which was on show from October 2004 until February 2005 in the New York Cooper Hewitt Museum. The book presents furniture, graphic art and table utensils by Josef, various home textiles and other objects by Anni Albers, including jewellery made from household materials (such as hair pins, sieves, screws, coasters). Anni’s best known textiles are wall hangings; however, she also designed carpets, curtains, table cloths, bedspreads, screens and even clothing. In the design process, the couple was looking for a synthesis of aesthetics and usefulness, an ideal of beauty and practicality. They did not like table cloths that screamed, “Look at me”, nor curtains that expressed “We are so beautiful - Please pay attention!” They considered good design to be the unostentatious quality of an object. - Containing many illustrations and two explanatory articles, by Nicholas Fox on “Design for Living” and by Martin Filler on “A Marriage of Like-Minded People”, this book provides information on the attitude to design, art and craft by both designers, who became icons of 20th century design in America.

back to short view