El Lissitzki / VI. 30

Josef Albers

1930, assembled ca. 1932 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

In 1936, when teaching at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Albers wrote, "I believe now it is time...that we move from looking at art as a part of history to an understanding of art as a part of life." He had brilliantly demonstrated this understanding previously in his photographs. This photomontage, made of images taken during El Lissitzsky's visit to the Bauhaus in 1928, describes the present as a mosaic of preceding moments suspended over the Russian artist's head. The visual mosaic works in the same manner as the bubbles that carry the unuttered thoughts of cartoon characters.

Artist

Josef Albers

Date

1930, assembled ca. 1932

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987