CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/20/2019

Anni Albers, barbaric beauty and 'MoMA Now'

In celebration of the grand reopening—and radical rehanging—of MoMA's newly expanded galleries, which open to the public this week, we are delighted to feature this beautiful 1925 work on paper by Anni Albers, reproduced from the equally radically recalibrated collection catalogue, MoMA Now—a book that is, of course, heavy on masterpieces, yet well balanced in terms of "artists who are non-male, nonwhite and non-Western," in the words of Roberta Smith, reviewing the opening shows. "Technique was acquired as it was needed and as a foundation for future attempts," Albers is quoted on her work with the Bauhaus weaving workshop. "Unburdened by any practical considerations, this play with materials produced amazing results, textiles striking in their novelty, their fullness of color and texture, and possessing often a quite barbaric beauty."