By Marta Bausells
The allure of minimalist interiors in today’s cluttered digital age is undeniable. However, long before the oversimplified minimalism trend on Instagram (with 28 million posts and counting), modernist artists Anni and Josef Albers were creating thoughtful and luminous spaces. This summer, during my artist residency in the Irish countryside, supported by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in a library of works by and about the Alberses. Their lives, craftsmanship, and way of living nurtured my vision of an ideal home.
Josef and Anni were an artistic couple who truly allowed each other to be their authentic selves. They first met in 1922 at the influential Bauhaus art school in Germany, where Josef was a teacher and Anni was a student. Anni, as a woman, was encouraged to pursue the lesser-regarded craft of weaving, but she elevated it to a fine art form. The apartment they shared at the Bauhaus served as a testing ground for furniture designs by Josef and his colleagues, including Marcel Breuer’s iconic Wassily chair.
After fleeing Germany in 1933 and spending time at North Carolina’s progressive Black Mountain College, Josef and Anni settled in Connecticut, where they created a home that would become their lifelong sanctuary. They renovated the house as affordably as possible, using discarded car seats as living room sofas and doing all the menial tasks themselves – finding great pleasure in the process.
What captivates me most about the Alberses is their meticulous attention to detail – in their way of life, artistic creation, and selection of objects. They believed that each element contributed to how we experience a room and even how we perceive the world.
Their appreciation for simplicity and functionality profoundly influences my own approach to living spaces. I especially admire their profound reverence for well-crafted objects. As Nicholas Fox Weber writes in “Anni & Josef Albers: Equal and Unequal,” the Alberses derived pleasure from the seamless functionality of everyday items, be it a painting, a car radio, or a piece of dinnerware. As we witness the fading of my grandparents’ generation – individuals like Josef’s father, who possessed exceptional DIY skills and the ability to maintain and repair almost anything – I increasingly recognize the importance of intentionality when it comes to even the smallest details.
Inspired by my time at the Albers Foundation’s residency, I’ve been daydreaming about creating my own home in a small space with limited resources. Reading about the homes the Alberses built for themselves has alleviated my anxieties about not being able to afford certain items. All I truly need are a few key pieces of well-made furniture. Even if they come from Ikea, I can still hold them in high regard. The remaining spaces can be filled with personal mementos, serendipitous finds, photos, and, of course, my beloved books – beautiful things that don’t have to come with a price tag.
As the Alberses once wrote in a letter to a friend, “Make sure your apartment is clean, light, and empty. Most of your old stuff is no longer necessary and only hinders you.”
Photography: Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art; John T. Hill; Courtesy the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation
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