Josef Albers in Mexico

Book excerpt: Albers in Mexico reveals the profound link between the magnificent art and architecture of ancient Mesoamerica and Albers's abstract works on canvas and paper. 'Mexico is truly the promised land of abstract art', Josef Albers once wrote to Vassily Kandinsky. Albers in Mexico reveals the profound link between the magnificent art and architecture of ancient Mesoamerica and Albers's abstract works on canvas and paper. With his wife, the artist Anni Albers, he visited Mexico and other Latin American countries more than a dozen times from 1935 to 1968, where he toured pre-Columbian archeological sites and monuments. On each visit, Albers took blackand- white photographs of the pyramids, shrines, sanctuaries and landscapes in and around these ancient sites, often grouping multiple images printed at various scales onto 8 x 10 inch sheets. The result was nearly 200 photo-collages that illustrate formal characteristics of the pre-Columbian aesthetic. Albers in Mexico brings together rarely exhibited photographs, photo-collages, prints and significant paintings from the Homage to the Square and Variants/Adobe series from the Guggenheim Museum collection and the Anni and Josef Albers Foundation. This catalogue includes two scholarly essays, Albers's poetry from the period and an illustrated map, as well as rich colour reproductions of paintings and works on paper.