Josef and Anni and Ruth and Ray
David Zwirner is pleased to present Josef and Anni and Ruth and Ray as the inaugural exhibition at the gallery's 34 East 69th Street location. Featuring work by Josef Albers, Anni Albers, Ruth Asawa, and Ray Johnson—all of whom were at Black Mountain College in North Carolina in the late 1940s—this exhibition will explore both the aesthetic and personal dialogue between these artists during their Black Mountain years and beyond; and will include a number of works exchanged amongst the group, in addition to a selection of key compositions influenced by their time there.
Josef and Anni Albers arrived at Black Mountain College in 1933, both having studied and subsequently taught at the Bauhaus for nearly a decade. It was through the Alberses that the pedagogy of the famed German art school, which espoused ideals of radical experimentation and an open interchange of ideas, was imported and adapted in their new setting. As Asawa recalls, Josef Albers would open his Basic Design course by saying, "Open your eyes and see. My aim is to make you see more than you want to. I am here to destroy all your prejudices. If you already have a style don't bring it with you. It will only be in the way"—in essence paraphrasing the aesthetic philosophy that came to define Black Mountain College as a progressive and avant-garde institution in those years. Johnson arrived as student in 1945, and Asawa subsequently in 1946—both quickly availing themselves of the Alberses's guidance, which was particularly unexpected in the case of Johnson, whose nontraditional approach contrasted with the older artists' formal rigor.
Join Nicholas Fox Weber, Executive Director, The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation for a guided tour of the exhibition on Saturday, October 28, 11 AM
RSVP to Hannah Chinn at hchinn@davidzwirner.com
For more information about available works contact inquiries@davidzwirner.com
Location
Dates
September 20—October 28, 2017
Artist
Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, Ray Johnson
Featuring archival photography and interviews with former students, teachers, and historians, Fully Awake: Black Mountain College (2008) is a documentary film by Cathryn Davis Zommer and Neeley Dawson exploring the development of a unique experiment in arts education. With a radical approach to creative learning espoused by Josef and Anni Albers, Black Mountain College provided a formative environment for its students, among them Ruth Asawa and Ray Johnson.
Josef and Anni Albers at Black Mountain College, 1949. Photo: Theodore Dreier. Courtesy The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.
Anni Albers: Notebook 1970–1980
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (BMC.85, Dogwood Leaves), c. 1946-1949
Oil and watercolor on paper
10 1/2 x 8 inches (26.7 x 20.3 cm)
Josef Albers
Leaf Study I, c. 1940
Leaves and colored paper
9 1/2 x 18 inches (24.1 x 45.7 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.264, Hanging Two-Lobed, Continuous Form), 1949
Hanging sculpture—oxidized copper wire
16 x 4 x 4 inches (40.6 x 10.2 x 10.2 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (SF.047a, Potato print [blue and black cross]), 1951-1952
Ink on Sumi-e paper
14 1/4 x 10 inches (36.2 x 25.4 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (SF.045B, Potato print branches [brown/orange]), 1951-1952
Ink on paper
14 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches (36.2 x 26 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (SF.049a, Apple Print - red/blue/yellow/orange), 1951-1952
Ink on newsprint
8 1/2 x 15 inches (21.6 x 38.1 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (SF.049e, Apple Print - red/blue/green/orange), 1951-1952
Ink on paper
12 x 18 inches (30.5 x 45.7 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (SF.045c, Potato print branches, purple/blue), 1951-1952
Ink on paper
14 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches (36.2 x 26 cm)
Ray Johnson
Christmas Trees, 1957
Collage on cardboard panel
17 3/4 x 21 3/4 inches (45.1 x 55.2 cm)
Ray Johnson
Untitled (Magenta Cut Paper Moticos), c. 1958-1960
Collage on illustration board
10 7/8 x 7 1/8 inches (27.6 x 18.1 cm)
Anni Albers
Black-White-Gold I, 1950
Cotton, lurex, and jute
25 x 19 1/4 inches (63.5 x 48.9 cm)
Josef Albers
Leaf Study III, c. 1940
Leaves and colored paper
18 x 18 5/8 inches (45.7 x 47.3 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (BMC.129, In and Out), c. 1946-1949
Oil on paper on board
7 x 19 inches (17.8 x 48.3 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (BMC.90, Arrows), c. 1946-1949
Oil on paper
19 x 12 inches (48.3 x 30.5 cm)
Josef Albers
Modified Repetition, 1943
Oil on Masonite
15 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches (39.4 x 64.8 cm)
Josef Albers
Color study (Variant/Adobe), 1948
Oil and graphite on blotting paper
19 x 24 inches (48.3 x 61 cm)
Anni Albers
Design for a 1926 Unexecuted Wallhanging, n.d.
Gouache and pencil on reprographic paper
15 1/8 x 9 7/8 inches (38.4 x 25.1 cm)
Anni Albers
Drawing for a Rug I, 1959
Ink and pencil on paper
24 5/8 x 9 7/8 inches (62.5 x 25.1 cm)
Ray Johnson
Untitled (Motico, William D. Bayles), 1955
Collage
12 1/2 x 7 1/8 inches (31.8 x 18.1 cm)
Ray Johnson
Untitled (Motico, Cowboy Two), 1955
Collage
12 1/4 x 5 inches (31.1 x 12.7 cm)
Ray Johnson
Untitled (Motico, Odiferous Wood), 1955
Collage
12 x 8 3/8 inches (30.5 x 21.3 cm)
Ray Johnson
Calm Center, c. 1949-1951
Oil on board in artist's frame
28 5/8 x 28 5/8 inches (72.7 x 72.7 cm)
Ray Johnson
Untitled (Moticos with Red Ground), 1958
Collage on cardboard panel
11 1/8 x 7 1/2 inches (28.3 x 19.1 cm)
Ray Johnson
14 Squares, 1956
Collage on cardboard panel
20 1/4 x 15 inches (51.4 x 38.1 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.461, Hanging Single Lobed, Five Layers of Spheres), c.1954
Hanging sculpture—iron wire
15 x 21 x 21 inches (38.1 x 53.3 x 53.3 cm)
Josef Albers
Study for Graphic Tectonic (Ascension), 1941
Ink and graphite on paper
22 1/8 x 17 1/8 inches (56.2 x 43.5 cm)