Weaving at Black Mountain College: Anni Albers, Trude Guermonprez, and Their Students

Weaving at Black Mountain College was a highly sophisticated and successful design program that attracted a diverse range of students, including textile designers, artists, and architects. This book rewrites history to show how weaving played a larger role in the curriculum than previously assumed, and includes dozens of objects from private and public collections. Essays explore connections and networks fostered by Black Mountain weavers, and Bauhaus influences transmitted by Anni Albers. The book also includes works by five contemporary artists that connect to the legacy of weaving at Black Mountain College.

Format: Hardback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 14 November 2023
Publisher: Yale University Press

In the mid-twentieth century, Black Mountain College drew a remarkable array of artists, architects, and musicians. However, the weaving classes taught by Anni Albers, Trude Guermonprez, and six other faculty members are often overlooked or relegated to mere craft lessons. This perception couldn't be further from the truth: the weaving program at Black Mountain College was its most sophisticated and successful design program. Approximately ten percent of all students at Black Mountain College enrolled in at least one weaving class, including specialists such as textile designers Lore Kadden Lindenfeld and Else Regensteiner, as well as students from various disciplines, including artists Ray Johnson and Robert Rauschenberg, and architects Don Page and Claude Stoller.

Weaving at Black Mountain College, by drawing upon a wealth of unpublished material and archival photographs, rewrites history to demonstrate how weaving played a much larger role in the legendary art and design curriculum than previously assumed. The book showcases dozens of objects from private and public collections, many of which have never been presented in this context. Essays explore the connections and networks fostered by Black Mountain weavers, the ways in which weaving at the college was intertwined with broader discourses about weaving and craft, and the Bauhaus influences transmitted through Anni Albers. Additionally, the book features works by five contemporary artists who engage with and respond to the legacy of weaving at Black Mountain College today.

Published by the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, the exhibition schedule for "Weaving at Black Mountain College" will be held at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in Asheville, North Carolina, from September 29, 2023, to January 6, 2024.

Weight: 1256g
Dimension: 218 x 274 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780300273564