A multicolored grid with asymmetrical margins on four sides.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A vertical rectangular grid is built of subdivided squares. These squares are variously: solid gray, a checkerboard pattern, striped with bands of black red and yellow tones, or made of smaller grids of multicolored straight or curved lines. These squares appear at intervals, both individually or adjacent to similar squares to form larger blocks of varying sizes. The design is made from both collaged paper and drawn or painted ink, graphite and water color. A typed label affixed in the lower margin at left reads, “Anni Albers III.1927 Design for a rug not executed”.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR48.49
People
Anni Albers, American (Berlin 1899 - 1994 Orange, Conn.)
Title
Design for a Rug
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1927
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/226092

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink and watercolor over graphite with drawn and cut paper additions on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
image: 21 x 15.6 cm (8 1/4 x 6 1/8 in.)
sheet: 32.1 x 25.1 cm (12 5/8 x 9 7/8 in.)
standard frame: 49.8 x 39.7 cm (19 5/8 x 15 5/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: recto, l.l., black ink, typed, English: Anni Albers III.L927 / Design for a rug / not executed
  • stamp: verso, u.r., black ink: albers dessau / stresemann allee 2

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Anni Albers
Copyright
© The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Accession Year
1948
Object Number
BR48.49
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
pricked

Publication History

  • Laura Muir, Object Lessons: The Bauhaus and Harvard, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2021), pp. 259, 278, plate 24, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • From Werkbund to Bauhaus: Art and Design in Germany 1900-1934, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 05/12/1980 - 04/26/1980
  • Art of the Weimar Era, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 04/05/1982 - 05/22/1982
  • A Tribute to Walter Gropius, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 05/16/1983 - 07/01/1983
  • Bauhaus: Dessau-Chicago-New York, Museum Folkwang Essen, Essen, 08/12/2000 - 11/12/2000
  • Josef and Anni Albers: Designs for Living, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, 10/01/2004 - 02/27/2005
  • 32Q: 1520 Art in Germany Between the Wars (Interwar and Bauhaus), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/16/2015 - 02/24/2016
  • The Bauhaus and Harvard, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/08/2019 - 07/28/2019
  • Artisanal Modernism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023

Subjects and Contexts

  • The Bauhaus

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu