1000 Museums

Born in Bottrop, Germany, in 1888, Josef Albers was an influential figure in the abstract art world and taught many individuals about art throughout his lifetime. As a young adult, Albers became an elementary school teacher and enrolled in Bauhaus, a very important design school in Germany. After getting his credentials as an art teacher, he taught glass painting, basic design, furniture design, and typography. Finally, he became a professor just before the Nazi regime forced the closure of Bauhaus and Albers emigrated to the United States. When arriving in the US in 1933, he became head of the art department at the new Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He stayed there for about fifteen years until leaving to become Yale’s art department chairman.