Pioneering twentieth-century artist Josef Albers (b.1888) was among the first students of The Bauhaus to be appointed as a master in 1925. In 1933 the Bauhaus faculty, Albers among them, elected to close the school rather than comply with the Third Reich. That same year, Albers accompanied by his wife and fellow Bauhaus artist Anni Albers moved to America, where he was invited to teach at the newly-formed Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
At the time of the Munich Games, Albers – now in his 80s – was living in Connecticut and working on his acclaimed Homage to the Square series, which had occupied him since 1950. Titled ‘Cinetic Window’, his commission for the Munich 1972 Olympic Games greatly resembles his long running investigation into colour theory. At the centre it features a large field of cobalt blue, enclosed by geometric structures using organised tones, suggestive of an Olympic Swimming pool.
Despite the overriding memory of the events of the Munich Games, the story of a renowned member of The Bauhaus – who had long since fled Germany – reconnecting with his homeland in celebration of the world-wide event, is the perfect example of how art has the enduring power to bring together cultures, promoting peace and unity.
Pioneering twentieth-century artist Josef Albers (b.1888) was among the first students of The Bauhaus to be appointed as a master in 1925. In 1933 the Bauhaus faculty, Albers among them, elected to close the school rather than comply with the Third Reich. That same year, Albers accompanied by his wife and fellow Bauhaus artist Anni Albers moved to America, where he was invited to teach at the newly-formed Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
At the time of the Munich Games, Albers – now in his 80s – was living in Connecticut and working on his acclaimed Homage to the Square series, which had occupied him since 1950. Titled ‘Cinetic Window’, his commission for the Munich 1972 Olympic Games greatly resembles his long running investigation into colour theory. At the centre it features a large field of cobalt blue, enclosed by geometric structures using organised tones, suggestive of an Olympic Swimming pool.
Despite the overriding memory of the events of the Munich Games, the story of a renowned member of The Bauhaus – who had long since fled Germany – reconnecting with his homeland in celebration of the world-wide event, is the perfect example of how art has the enduring power to bring together cultures, promoting peace and unity.