Black-White-Red
1926
In 1919 textile designer Anni Albers began her career in the renowned weaving workshop at the Bauhaus art school, where students were taught techniques geared toward industrial design and mass production. Alber's work reflects her interest in modernist abstraction inspired by theories of mathematical repetition. For this fabric, she created a triple weave that layers black threads over cream and red, producing a vibrating grid of lines, blocks, and striped units, with no identical rows.
- Medium
- Silk and cotton, plain weave double cloth of paired warps and wefts
- Dimensions
- Location
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Spotted works by Anni Albers
Artists in conversation
Sophie Taeuber-Arp
Swiss · b. 1889
Taeuber-Arp created geometric textile and woven works rooted in Bauhaus era modernist abstraction, using strict grids and repeating color blocks in ways that closely mirror the mathematical precision and vibrating visual rhythm of Black-White-Red.
Gunta Stölzl
German · b. 1897
As a master weaver and director of the Bauhaus weaving workshop, Stölzl produced woven textiles that combine structured geometric patterning with bold contrasting colors, sharing the same industrial craft approach and modernist grid sensibility seen in this piece.
Sonia Delaunay
French · b. 1885
Delaunay translated abstract geometric color theory directly into woven and printed textiles, creating vibrating patterns of contrasting color blocks and striped units that share the optical energy and modernist abstraction central to Black-White-Red.
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