Before enrolling as a student at the Bauhaus in 1920, Josef had been a school teacher in his hometown of Bottrop, in the northwestern industrial Ruhr region of Germany. Initially he taught a general elementary school course; then, following studies in Berlin, he taught art. In the course of his teaching years, he developed as a figurative artist and printmaker. Once he was at the Bauhaus, he worked primarily in stained and sandblasted glass, first making glass assemblages from detritus he found at the Weimar town dump, then sandblasting glass constructions and designing large stained-glass windows for houses and buildings. He also designed furniture, household objects, and a typeface, and developed a keen eye as a photographer. In 1925 he was the first Bauhaus student to be asked to join the faculty and become a “master” there. By 1933, when pressure from the Nazis forced the school to close, Josef Albers had become one of its best-known artists and teachers.
Introduction to Josef and Anni Albers (by The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation)
Design is fine. History is mine. 