During their first visit to Mexico, in the winter of 1935–36, artists Josef and Anni Albers knew that they were in a “country for art like no other.” The couple returned to Mexico thirteen times by the late 1960s, developing a passion for pre-Columbian art and architecture that would influence Josef’s abstract painting and prints and fuel his innovative approach to photography. The exhibition “Josef Albers in Mexico,” on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum November 3, 2017–April 4, 2018, features six sites in Mexico that the artists most frequented.
This guide centers on readings from Albers’s poetry, lectures, texts, and personal correspondence, dating from the decades he traveled to Mexico. These writings underscore his connection to the country and its influence on his art. They also reveal the complex and often surprising roles that place, time, and spirituality play in the artist’s uniquely personal vision. For more information, visit guggenheim.org/josefalbers
Includes excerpts from (in order of appearance):
Josef Albers, "Truthfulness in Art” (lecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Mass., December 11, 1937), transcript, box 39, Series IIa: Speeches by Josef Albers, Teaching, Professional Papers, 1925–1980, Josef Albers Papers, Josef and Anni Albers Foundation Archive, Bethany, Connecticut. Published in "Josef Albers in Mexico," Lauren Hinkson, exh. cat. (New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2017), pp. 48–51.
Josef Albers, untitled poem, no date. Published in "Josef Albers: Poems and Drawings," 3rd ed. (New Haven, Conn.: Readymade Press, 1958; New York: George Wittenborn, Inc., 1961; London: Tate Publishing, 2006), unpaginated. Design and sequence by Norman Ives. ©The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, Connecticut 1958, 2006.
