Josef Albers was a 20th-century artist whose work, writing, and teaching demonstrably transformed the way that people see color and the process of art-making.
His father was a “contractor who was proficient in carpentry, house-painting, plumbing, and other crafts.” Thanks to him, Josef learned all about these crafts which he later used on his career. He was also trained in engraving glass and wiring.
From 1905 to 1908, he studied to become a teacher in Buren. From 1913 to 1915, he attended the Royal Art School in Berlin where he got certified to teach art. He attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Essen (part-time from 1916 to 1919) and the Academy in Munich from 1919 to 1920, here, he learned lithography. In 1920, he entered the Weimar Bauhaus, where he explored the relationship between the “arts and technological society and emphasized the integration of architecture, fine art, and craft.”
Throughout his life, Josef Albers had many career paths, but overall, he was mainly an educator. He taught as an elementary school teacher for 12 years and as an instructor at the Bauhaus for 10 years.
From 1908 to 1913 he taught as a primary school teacher in Westphalia. In 1920 he entered Weimar Bauhaus where he began his experimental work as an abstract artist. In 1922, Albers joined the Bauhaus as a maker of stained glass and as a Bauhausgeselle (journeyman), he was charged with running the Bauhaus glass workshop. After three years as a student, he was hired to teach the famed Vorkurs, the introductory class that immersed students in the principles of design and the behavior of materials. In 1925, When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, he became Bauhausmeister (professor), teaching alongside fellow artists Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. In addition to working in glass and metal, he designed furniture and typography.
Throughout his teaching years he had a philosophy of having his students learn "the static and dynamic properties of materials. . . through direct experience." He had his students work with wire netting, matchboxes, phonograph needles, razor blades, and other unusual materials. He also took his students to different workshops where they could learn from craftsmen and their work with industrial and natural materials.
Albers dedicated great part of his life to investigating color theory and composition. He took the mathematical approach to achieve this, he explored with mathematical proportions to find the balance of his art. He believed that “Art is spirit, and only the quality of spirit gives the arts an important place in. . . life." So he wasn’t all about the analytical side of art. He was initially considered to be an expresionist due to his influences, but in 1923, he started experimenting with abstract principles and unusual materials. He started exploring the different possibilities that glass offered. He dealt with stained, sandblasted, and constructed arrangements. His explorations lead to remarkable works of art, he incorporated details that were considered to be “accidental” such as ripples and bubbles. This later evolved into more complex designs that explored balance, translucence, and opacity.