Josef Albers
Biography
He arrived in Weimar in 1920 as a student of thirty-two and left the Bauhaus thirteen years later as the man who taught its first-year course — the only person to be both.
A student in the glass workshop, 1920–1923
Born at Bottrop in 1888, Albers studied at the Weimar Bauhaus from 1920 to 1923: Johannes Itten's preliminary course first, then the glass painting workshop, where he worked with the material almost nobody else wanted — broken bottle glass and window scraps assembled into panels. He was not a young man doing it. He had already trained and worked as a schoolteacher before he enrolled.
Called into the teaching body, 1923
Walter Gropius brought him into the Bauhaus's college of teachers in 1923, which makes him the school's own product: taught in Weimar, then teaching in it. Marianne Brandt, who arrived that year, took her preliminary course with him and Moholy-Nagy — the first cohort in the school's history to be taught the first-year course by someone the school itself had trained.
Dessau, Berlin, and out, 1925–1976
From 1925 he ran the preliminary course at Dessau, at first with László Moholy-Nagy and later alone, led the carpentry workshop, and taught drawing and lettering at the Bauhaus in Berlin. When the school was closed in 1933 he and his wife Anni emigrated to the United States, where his teaching — and his colour work — shaped American art education for decades. He died at New Haven in 1976.
Questions visitors ask
- What was Josef Albers's path at the Bauhaus?
- He arrived in Weimar in 1920 as a student, taking Itten's preliminary course and then the glass painting workshop. In 1923 Walter Gropius brought him into the teaching body, making him the school's own product — taught in Weimar, then teaching in it.
- What did Josef Albers work with in the glass workshop?
- Material almost nobody else wanted: broken bottle glass and window scraps, assembled into panels.
- What happened to Josef Albers after the Bauhaus closed?
- In 1933 he and his wife Anni emigrated to the United States, where his teaching — and his colour work — shaped American art education for decades. He died at New Haven in 1976.
- Can I visit where Josef Albers studied and taught?
- Yes, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, where he studied from 1920 and taught from 1923.
Notable Works & Achievements
the Bauhaus glass workshop
the preliminary course at Dessau
his teaching in the United States
Connected Places in Weimar
Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 8, 99423 Weimar
He studied in the school's Weimar buildings from 1920 and taught in them from 1923.
Historical Context
A Weimar student of 1920 who joined the teaching body in 1923 — the school teaching its own.
The Bauhaus was founded in Weimar in 1919 and voted out by 1925 — time enough to change what a design school is, and not enough for the town that made it to keep it.
Read more about this period →Quick Facts
1888
1976
German-American
On stage
On stage
Schauspiel
One of the Bauhaus lives the panel reads the school's first years through.