The Museum of Modern Art presents a rarely exhibited body of photographic work following the acquisition of 10 photocollages in 2015
2016-2017
Josef Albers's photographic work was only discovered after his death, making it the least familiar aspect of his practice. The first serious exploration of this piece of his artistic ouput occurred in a small exhibition at MoMA in 1988, The Photographs of Josef Albers. In 2015, the museum acquired 10 photocollages by Albers, adding to the two donated by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation almost three decades prior. The photocollages—featuring photographs he made at the Bauhaus between 1928 and 1932—anticipate concerns that Albers would pursue throughout his career: seriality, perception, and the relationship between handcraft and mechanical production.
One and One Is Four: The Bauhaus Photocollages of Josef Albers celebrated the landmark acquisition and the publication of an accompanying catalogue which focuses exclusively on this deeply personal and inventive aspect of Albers's work and makes many of the photocollages available for the first time.