anni albers in austin

 

 Anni's loom (circa 1952) produced by the Structo Manufacturing Company in Freeport, Illinois

 

 Saved from the Nazis by Philip Johnson, Anni Albers née Fleischmann studied under the impressionist Martin Brandenburg before enrolling at the Bauhaus (Weimar) in 1922. While at the Bauhaus, she shifted her focus from painting to weaving and textiles. While at the Bauhaus, she married Josef Albers and moved with him to Dessau when the Bauhaus moved there. In time, she became the head of the weaving program at the design school. In 1933, she and her husband moved to North Carolina where she took a teaching position at Black Mountain College. Later in her career, she moved into printmaking.

Anni brought Modernism to weaving, introducing geometrics and abstractions to the craft, elevating it to art. She was the first textile designer to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She continued to work with Walter Gropius and was a designer for Knoll for three decades.

The exhibit at the Blanton was focused on her post-Bauhaus career and included weavings, tapestries, and prints.

Design for a wall hanging (1926)

 

 

design from 1925

 

 

mies van der rohe's villa tugendhat

On our drive between Prague and Vienna, we detoured into Brno to gawk at Mies van der Rohe's Villa Tugenhadt. Unfortunately (and something of a minor tragedy), the Villa was closed for tours since we were rolling through town on a Monday. But we were able to see it from the street and from a public-private space from the rear. A virtual tour of the Villa (including in VR!) is available here.

This is one of Mies' key buildings, designed and built between 1928 and 1930, and one that included the work of Lilly Reich. The three-story home is hung from the hill-top where it has a low, linear profile. It has floor to ceiling glass, curving glass, and is beautifully minimal. It also has central air conditioning, a rarity at the time. The large windows in the living area could be fully retracted into the floor with electric motors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

r.m. schindler in vienna

While working for Myer & Mayer in Vienna, right out of school, Schindler designed a "Clubhouse for Actors" at 6 Dorotheergasse. This is Schindler's first built work. Sarnitz (1993) states that "...it seems evident that this design reflects the intentions of his employer more than his own intentions, and therefore this should not be considered with the other Schindler projects." Regardless, the building was published in Der Architekt (1912), albeit under the name of the architect of record, Hans Mayr.

From the narrow street, the building appears nearly the same as in the architectural drawing and doesn't exude anything special, either today or for its time. There are touches of Modernism on the first floor with with large bay windows and the simple geometries and lack or ornamentation inside. The entrance is slightly different  and the windows are updated although they retain the original rhythm of the design. A cafe holds court in the northeastern corner of the building. A theater, now billiard bar and a club, still exists on the first floor.

The cafe, Cafe Hawelka (Künstlerkaffeehaus Hawelka) was opened in 1939 by Leopold Hawelka. The cafe was a haunt for many local writers in the 1950s and 1960s. Arthur Miller and Andy Warhol stopped in. The cafe serves a mean wiener melange. The interior of the original cafe was designed by a student of Adolf Loos, and much of this original design remains.

The painter Adolf Frankl also lived in the building.