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instead of second hand analysis and third rate statistics; more action than ambition; and: organizing oneself before organizing others.” Albers made it clear that his patience had its limits: “During the past 13 years, I think, I have considered the demands of the College and students on me before my own needs. Now, being near 60, I cannot continue that way. Because too much of the work I need to do has been postponed for too long. I have also to consider more my public obligations.” Given this letter, it was as much Albers’s stubborn refusal to give up on Black Mountain College as it was his sense of obligation that led him, one day later, to propose a compromise by which he agreed to spend a short time back at Black Mountain during the first semester of the 1947–48 year. He would advise the art students, teach one course during the second semester, help the students prepare for graduation, and organize the 1948 Summer Art Institute. 46 Yet, despite all the evidence that Albers was attempting to limit his involvement in the college as early as the spring of 1947, he was drawn back into the conflict. After a tumultuous series of events that crystallized, in the early summer of 1948, in a sharp and acrimonious confrontation between Levi and Albers, Levi resigned as rector and took a leave of absence. With Ted Dreier unwilling to reassume a leadership role, Albers, perhaps seeing Levi’s absence as a chance to reassert himself, took on the position of rector against his own inclination and better judgment, and devoted himself to trying to find solutions to the college’s severe fiscal and structural crises. 47 Incredibly, against this battling backdrop, the Summer Art Institute that Albers organized for 1948 was the most fertile and memorable in the college’s history. It was the legendary summer of John Cage and Merce Cunningham; of Willem de Kooning and Buckminster Fuller; a summer that, with the passing of time, has become for many the defining moment of Black Mountain College. 48 But Albers was growing increasingly weary of the constant reinventions the college demanded. “Every year you have the same thing,” Richard Lippold remembers him saying that summer, “[e]very year a whole bunch of people come and think they’re going to change it all. And we go through this same thing. And by the end of the year we’ve all finally got back to some stability, and then the y estadísticas de tercera categoría; más acción que ambición; y organizarse uno a sí mismo antes que organizar a los demás.” Albers puso en claro que su paciencia había llegado al límite: “Du- rante los últimos 13 años, me parece, he concedido mayor importancia a las exigencias de la universidad y sus estudiantes que a mis propias necesidades. Ahora, a punto de cumplir mis 60 años, no puedo seguir así, porque una gran parte del trabajo que debo realizar ha sido postergado durante demasiado tiempo. Debo considerar más seriamen- te mis obligaciones ante el público.” Sintiéndose obligado con Black Moun- tain y negándose a abandonar la lucha por salvar la universidad, un día des- pués de escribir esta carta, Albers pro- puso una solución: estuvo de acuerdo en regresar y pasar un breve tiempo en la escuela durante el primer semester de 1947-48. Serviría de consejero a los estudiantes de arte, enseñaría un curso durante el segundo semestre, ayuda- ría a los alumnos a prepararse para su graduación y organizaría el Instituto de Arte de Verano de 1948. 46 Pero a pesar de todos los indicios de que Albers pro- curaba limitar su compromiso con la universidad, se vio nuevamente envuelto en el conflicto. Tras una serie de borrasco- sos acontecimientos que culminó, a prin- cipios del verano de 1948, en un enfren- tamiento brusco y acrimonioso entre Al- bers y Levi, éste renunció su puesto como rector y tomó una licencia. Ted Dreier no estaba dispuesto a asumir el cargo de nuevo, y Albers, tal vez creyendo que la ausencia de Levi le daría la oportunidad de imponerse, aceptó el puesto de rector en contra de lo que le aconsejaba su jui- cio, y se entregó a la tarea de encontrar soluciones a las graves crisis fiscales y estructurales de la universidad. 47 Parece increíble que, a pesar de estas circunstancias contenciosas, el Instituto de Arte del verano del 1948 fue el más productivo y exitoso en toda la historia de Black Mountain. Fue el legendario verano de John Cage y Merce Cunning- ham, de Willem de Kooning y Buckmins- ter Fuller, un verano que ha llegado a representar para muchos el momen- to definidor de la Universidad Black Mountain. 48 Pero Albers empezaba a cansarse de la necesidad de reinventar constantemente la universidad. “Cada año es la misma historia”, recuerda Richard Lippold que dijo Albers aquel verano. “Cada año llegan un montón de personas que piensan que lo van a cambiar todo. Y pasamos por lo mismo. Y hacia el final del año hemos recuperado un poco la estabilidad, y luego al año siguiente todo comienza de nuevo.” 49 “La constante tensión y la constante falta de dinero y la constante fricción con cada 53 next year it starts all over again.” 49 “[The] constant tension and the constant lack of money and the constant friction with every faculty member [who has] the same voting voice that you had,” were what eventually wore them down, according to Anni Albers. 50 After fifteen years, apart from Nell Rice, only the Alberses and the Dreiers remained of the pioneers of 1933. 51 All else being equal, it is unsurprising that they felt their longevity, experience, and endurance should count for something. With hindsight, it seems obvious that Josef and Anni Albers’s eventual resignation from Black Mountain College in early February 1949 had been brewing since at least 1947, and perhaps as early as 1945, when the end of World War II began to change the character of American society. The final break has broadly and correctly been attributed to their solidarity with an embattled Ted Dreier. Despite having announced his intention to leave Black Mountain at least as early as September 1948, Ted Dreier was unable to tear himself away from the place in which he had invested so much of his personal, material, and spiritual resources. 52 At last, all of Black Mountain’s pathologies coalesced around Dreier. Albers was made abundantly aware of this in early January 1949, when his secretary, Isabel Mangold, sent him a long, carefully worded, typewritten letter. 53 Writing on behalf of a group of colleagues, Mangold told Albers that Dreier had voiced the possibility of once again taking on the rectorship. With admirable clarity she set out their objections: Dreier was confused as to the direction the college should take; unable to conduct a meeting coherently; autocratic; and prone to shut others out of his deliberations. Moreover, his pessimism about the chances for the college’s continued economic survival was the cause of lowered morale all around. “In my own mind,” wrote Mangold, “Ted has always stood as the symbol of rectitude, of honor. Knowing a little about how much the life of the College depended on him in the old days, it has grieved me beyond measure to find how he has changed.” Putting aside for a moment her careful tone, she added a handwritten note, as if speaking directly to Albers, “I think he is largely unconscious of these things. That he is psychically unbalanced.” Mangold pleaded with Albers to dissuade Dreier and thereby “to forestall, an open, unpleasant, explosive and unnecessary controversy.” 54 profesor, que tiene la misma voz y voto que uno, fueron, según Anni Albers, lo que por fin los desanimó. 50 Después de 15 años, aparte de Nell Rice, sólo los Albers y los Dreier quedaban de los pioneros originales de 1933. 51 No es de extrañar que ellos pensaran que toda su longevidad, su experiencia y su aguan- te debían contar para algo. Como se puede ver en retrospectiva, la semillas de la dimisión de Josef y Anni Albers de la Universidad Black Moun- tain en febrero de 1949 se habían plan- tado desde 1947 y tal vez aun antes, en 1945, cuando el fin de la Segunda Gue- rra Mundial empezó a cambiar la índole de la sociedad norteamericana. El rom- pimiento final ha sido atribuido por muchos, y con razón, a su solidaridad con el desdichado Ted Dreier. A pesar de haber anunciado su intención de dejar la universidad en septiembre de 1948, Dreier no pudo separarse del lugar en que había invertido tantos recursos per- sonales, materiales y espirituales. 52 Por fin, todas las fuerzas del mal en Black Mountain sitiaron a Dreier. Albers se enteró plenamente de ello cuando su se- cretaria, Isabel Mangold, le envió una larga carta cuidadosamente redactada y escrita a máquina. 53 Escribiendo a nombre de un grupo de colegas, Man- gold informó a Albers que Dreier había mencionado la posibilidad de volver a asumir el cargo de rector. Con admirable claridad ella perfiló las objeciones de estos colegas: Dreier no tenía una noción clara de la dirección que debía tomar la universidad, no podía presidir eficazmente una junta, era autocrático y solía excluir a otras personas en sus deliberaciones. Por añadidura, su pe- simismo con respecto a la superviven- cia económica de la universidad había creado un ambiente general de desilu- sión. “Para mí”, declaró Mangold, “Ted ha sido siempre símbolo de la rectitud y el honor. Me doy cuenta hasta qué punto la universidad dependía de él en aquellos primeros días, y me apena sobremanera observar el cambio que se ha producido en él.” Abandonando momentáneamente su tono de reserva, adjuntó una nota escrita a mano, como si estuviera hablando directamente con Albers: “Creo que él no está consciente de la mayoría de estas cosas, que está psíquicamente desequilibrado.” Man- gold le imploró a Albers que conven- ciera a Dreier de que desistiera de su pretensión y así “evitar una controver- sia abierta, desagradable, explosiva e innecesaria”. 54 Pero Albers no se dejó convencer. Me- nos de una semana más tarde, durante una reunión en Nueva York con un grupo de aspirantes a síndicos de la Universidad Black Mountain, Albers
But Albers was not to be persuaded. Less than a week later, during meeting in New York City with a group of potential Black Mountain College trustees, Albers announced that Dreier had decided not to leave the college after all. 55 Two weeks of uncertainty followed, as an ambivalent Dreier equivocated between declaring his willingness to resign and protesting his unwillingness to leave “an administrative vacuum” behind him. 56 As Dreier continued to dodge the inevitable, Nell Rice and four colleagues called a special meeting for January 29 to request his resignation. 57 As the endgame loomed, a facilitator in the form of N.O. Pittenger, retired treasurer of Swarthmore College, arrived on the scene. Pittenger was a skilled administrator and a trusted friend and confidante of Frank Aydelotte, who had sent him down to investigate the options for Black Mountain College. Although he was at the college from January 27 to 30, Pittenger did not attend the January 29 meeting. 58 By the time the meeting was over Albers realized that he too had run out of solutions. Fond as he was of Dreier, and always a loyal friend, Albers realized that Dreier could not carry on as an official of the college. In a handwritten note, he appealed to Pittenger: Though [this is] a P.S. it means something close to my heart. Seeing Ted Dreier carry the responsibility of a treasurer under the present circumstances and in the present surrounding in which we his friends can be of little help, I am most anxious to see him released of this burden as soon as possible. If by any chance you can not come won’t you try to suggest someone else. But let me assure you that we believe in you most. 59 Dreier, however, seemed to think that the meeting had gone rather well for him: “Your word to Albers and then to Nell did the trick so far as the meeting was concerned,” he wrote Aydelotte, “I am not thrown out yet… we are holding the fort.” 60 But Albers declared the meeting “had been prepared and developed in a way we protested against and declared unfair and disgusting. I prefer not to report details.” He had made up his mind to resign: “The same evening, 4 of us, Schlesinger, Guermonprez, Anni and I made a definite decision to be announced the following day.” 61 From “Teaching Design: A Short History of Josef Albers” by Brenda Danilowitz in Josef Albers: To Open Eyes—The Bauhaus, Black Mountain College, and Yale, 2006 Phaidon Press Limited. anunció que Dreier había tomado la de- cisión de quedarse en la universidad. 55 Sobrevinieron dos semanas de incerti- dumbre, durante las cuales el indeciso Dreier vacilaba entre manifestar que estaba dispuesto a renunciar y declarar que no estaba dispuesto a irse y dejar “un vacío administrativo”. 56 Mientras Dreier seguía eludiendo lo inevitable, Nell Rice y cuatro colegas convocaron una junta extraordinaria para el 29 de enero para pedir su renuncia. 57 A estas alturas del partido, se presentó un fa- cilitador en la persona de N. O. Pitten- ger, tesorero jubilado de la Universidad Swarthmore. Pittenger era un adminis- trador consumado y un buen amigo y confidente de Frank Aydelotte, quien lo había enviado a la Universidad Black Mountain para investigar las opciones. Aunque estuvo en la universidad del 27 al 30 de enero, Pittenger no asistió a la junta del 29 de enero. 58 Al finalizar la junta, Albers también se dio cuenta de que se le habían acabado las salidas. Por mucho que apreciaba a Dreier, Al- bers, su amigo constante, comprendió que Dreier no podría seguir como ofi- cial de la universidad. En una nota ma- nuscrita, Albers se dirigió a Pittenger: Aunque ésta es una posdata, es un asunto de mucha importancia personal para mí. Vien- do a Ted Dreier en el cargo de tesorero en las circunstancias actuales y en esta situación en que nosotros sus amigos podemos ofrecerle muy poca ayuda, estoy muy ansioso de que se le retire cuanto antes esa gravosa respon- sabilidad. Si no puede acudir usted mismo, tal vez podría sugerir el nombre de otra persona. Pero permítame asegurarle que es en usted en quien confiamos sobre todo. 59 Dreier, sin embargo, parecía creer que la junta le había favorecido: “Sus pala- bras para Albers y luego para Nell hi- cieron el milagro en lo que respecta a la junta”, le escribió a Aydelotte, “pues to- davía no me echan… sigo entregado a mi tarea”. 60 Pero Albers dictaminó que la junta “había sido preparada y desa- rrollada de una manera que protesta- mos y declaramos injusta y repugnante. Prefiero no relatar los pormenores.” Se había decidido a renunciar: “Esa misma noche, cuatro de nosotros, Schlesinger, Guermonprez, Anni y yo tomamos una decisión definitiva que sería dada a co- nocer al día siguiente.” 61 De “Teaching Design: A Short History of Josef Al- bers” por Brenda Danilowitz en Josef Albers: To Open Eyes—The Bauhaus, Black Mountain Colle- ge, and Yale, 2006 Phaidon Press Limited. N O TA S 1 Rice, un educador excéntrico y erudito, habiá renunciado en febrero de 1933 por 54 NOTES 1 Rice, an erudite, eccentric educator, had resigned in February, 1933 over a ques- tion of academic freedom. See Kathleen Chaddock Reynolds, Visions and Vanities: John Andrew Rice of Black Mountain College (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998). Also see Mary Emma Harris, The Arts at Black Mountain College (Cam- bridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1987), 2–7. 2 In Reynolds, Visions and Vanities, 2, the au- thor writes, “the Great Depression created an environment in which new and financially unstable ventures like Black Mountain Col- lege seemed no more risky than so many other endeavors of the time.” 3 Dreier was so much an idealist that he refused his own inheritance. Most of the money came from the Forbes family of Boston, good friends of Dreier and also of Rice. See Reynolds, Visions and Vanities, 120–22. 4 Ted and Barbara Dreier, interview by Kath- leen Reynolds, Winter Park, Florida, 5 April 1993. 5 Ibid. Katherine Dreier had visited the Bau- haus in Weimar as early as 1922 and again in 1926. She had purchased works from both Klee and Kandinsky in 1922. See also Margaret Kentgens-Craig, The Bauhaus and America: First Contacts 1919–1936 (Cam- bridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1999), 81. Philip Johnson first visited the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1928. 6 Josef and Anni Albers, letter to Wassily and Nina Kandinsky, 3 December 1933, in Kan- dinsky-Albers, Une corresponddance des années trente, ed. Jessica Boissel, Les Ca- hiers du Musée national d’art moderne (Par- is: Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 1998), 17. The comment about Duchamp is handwritten on the typewritten letter. Carbon copies of the typewritten part of this letter were sent to several of the Alberses’ friends in Germany, including the Kandinskys, the Perdekamps, and the Grotes. In each case Josef and/or Anni added handwritten notes. 7 Ibid. 8 Among the headlines were: “Art Professor, Fleeing Nazis, here to Teach. Liberalism Curbed in Germany, Josef Albers takes Mountain Post” in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 26 November 1933; “A Teacher from the Bauhaus” in the New York Times, 29 Novem- ber 1933; and “German Professor to go to Black Mt. College. Professor Josef Albers to Reorganize Art Department at School” in the New York Herald Tribune, 10 December 1933. 9 Albers to Perdekamp, 11 December 1933. 10 Josef and Anni Albers, interview by Martin Dubermann, 11 November 1967. 11 Josef and Anni Albers, letter to friends, 3 De- cember 1933, JAAF Archive. 12 Josef Albers to Wassily and Nina Kandinsky, 27 April 1934, in Kandinsky-Albers, 24. 13 Josef and Anni Albers, letter to friends, 3 De- cember 1933. una cuestión de libertad académica. Ver Kathleen Chaddock Reynolds, Visions and Vanities: John Andrew Rice of Black Mountain College (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Uni- versity Press, 1998). Ver también Mary Emma Harris, The Arts at Black Mountain College (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1987), 2–7. 2 En Reynolds, Visions and Vanities, 2, la au- tora escribe: “la Gran Depresión creó un ambiente en que las empresas nuevas e inesta- bles como la Universidad Black Mountain no parecían más arriesgadas que tantas otras aventuras de la época.” 3 Dreier era tan idealista que rechazó su propia herencia. La mayoría del dinero provenía de la familia Forbes, de Boston, que eran buenos amigos de Dreier y también de Rice. Ver Rey- nolds, Visions and Vanities, 120–22. 4 Ted y Barbara Dreier, entrevista con Kathleen Reynolds, Winter Park, Florida, 5 de abril de 1993. 5 Ibid. Katherine Dreier había visitado el Bau- haus en Weimar en 1922 y otra vez en 1926. Había comprado obras a Klee y Kandinsky en 1922. Ver también Margaret Kentgens-Craig, The Bauhaus and America: First Contacts 1919–1936, (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1999), 81. Philip Johnson visitó el Bauhaus en Dessau por primera vez en 1928. 6 Josef y Anni Albers, carta a Wassily y Nina 7 Ibid. Kandinsky, 3 de diciembre de 1933, en Kan- dinsky-Albers, Une correspondance des an- nées trente, ed. Jessica Boissel, Les Cahiers du Musée national d’art moderne, (Paris: Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 1998) 17. El comentario sobre Duchamp está escrito a mano en una carta mecanografiada. Se enviaron copias al carbón de la parte mecanografiada de esta carta a varios de los amigos de los Albers en Alemania, entre ellos los Kandinsky, los Per- dekamp y los Grote. En cada caso Josef y/o Anni habían agregado notas manuscritas. 8 Entre los titulares estaban: “Profesor de arte, huyendo de los nazis, llega aquí para enseñar, Josef Albers acepta cátedra en Black Moun- tain” en el Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 26 noviembre de 1933; “Profesor del Bauhaus” en el New York Times, 29 de noviembre de 1933; y “Pro- fesor alemán regresará a la Universidad Black Mountain. Profesor Josef Albers reorganizará allí el Departamento de Arte” en el New York Herald Tribune, 10 de diciembre de 1933. 9 Albers a Perdekamp, 11 de diciembre de 1933. 10 Josef y Anni Albers, entrevista con Martin Du- bermann, 11 de noviembre de 1967. 11 Josef y Anni Albers, carta a unos amigos, 3 de diciembre de 1933, JAAF Archive. 12 Josef Albers a Wassily y Nina Kandinsky, 27 de abril de 1934, en Kandinsky-Albers, 24. 13 Josef y Anni Albers, carta a unos amigos, 3 de diciembre de 1933. 14 Josef y Anni Albers, entrevista con Martin Du- berman. 15 Reynolds, Visions and Vanities, 1, citando a Rice, entrevista con Martin Duberman, 10 de junio de 1967.
Page 2 and 3:
2 4 8 16 18 30 34 Contents Contenid
Page 4 and 5: gathered for an exhibition at China
Page 6 and 7: Laurel Gonsalves Elvira González D
Page 8 and 9: Josef Albers Carl Andre Ingólfur A
Page 11 and 12: CONVERSATION WITH JOHN CHAMBERLAIN
Page 13 and 14: K K : As different as that was, at
Page 15 and 16: K K : And how far did that get you?
Page 17 and 18: UNTITLED,1991, PANORAMIC PHOTOGRAPH
Page 19 and 20: RO B E R T C R E E L E Y para john
Page 21 and 22: REDWING, 1960, PAINTED STEEL. on Do
Page 23 and 24: MISS LUCY PINK, 1962, PAINTED AND C
Page 25 and 26: ists who have combined old and new
Page 27 and 28: UNTITLED, c.1964, CAR PAINT AND CHR
Page 29 and 30: JOHN CHAMBERLAIN BUILDINIG, CHINATI
Page 31 and 32: DAVID TOMPKINS It’s All in the Fi
Page 33 and 34: fore us. An intuitive response, on
Page 35 and 36: UNTITLED, 1966, URETHANE FOAM AND C
Page 37 and 38: RUSSELL FERGUSON Disregarded, Ordin
Page 39: N.A.L.P. WITH THREE GUYS FROM DELAN
Page 42 and 43: specting the pre-existing context s
Page 44 and 45: N.A.L.P. WITH THREE GUYS FROM DELAN
Page 46 and 47: VIEW ACROSS THE SWANNANOA VALLEY TO
Page 48 and 49: education, Rice and his co-defector
Page 50 and 51: LEAFLET SHOWING ALBERS’S LOGO DES
Page 52 and 53: students identified themselves with
Page 56 and 57: 14 Josef and Anni Albers, interview
Page 58 and 59: JOSEF ALBERS, HOMAGE TO THE SQUARE
Page 60 and 61: that price it is an institutional p
Page 62 and 63: general view are absent. They were
Page 64 and 65: WINDOW OF ADOBE HOUSE, UNDATED, 194
Page 66 and 67: Before the conclusion Larson wrote
Page 68 and 69: absent, say that what is present is
Page 70 and 71: intensity of the color varies accor
Page 72 and 73: sertive and retiring, stolid and pr
Page 74 and 75: BRIAN KIRK NELMS, UNTITLED, 2006. L
Page 76 and 77: OLIVER CROY, ALL FANTASIES, GENTLEM
Page 78 and 79: Open House 2006 The Chinati Foundat
Page 80 and 81: THE DANDY WARHOLS AND FRIENDS VISIT
Page 82 and 83: CAITLIN MURRAY KATHERINE KORDARIS A
Page 84 and 85: MAYOR DAVID LANMAN AND CHINATI ADMI
Page 86 and 87: Anna Friebe-Reininghaus Yoko Fukuda
Page 88 and 89: Emerson Head Josef Helfenstein Mart
Page 90 and 91: David B. Walek Jeanne & John (Ned)
Page 92 and 93: John Wesley B’s Stair, 2001 Five
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