The first full-scale biography of the great 20th-century artist, craftsman, and thinker Josef Albers, whose influence is still felt today. Drawing on extensive unpublished archival writings, documents, and illustrations, this is the first full-scale biography of one of the 20th century’s great artists.

In his accessible study of the “whole” Albers, Charles Darwent combats the fables while telling the fascinating story of an artist, friend, and intellectual. Among Albers’s unpublished papers are letters from friends John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Serra, and Eva Hesse, as well as fans and collectors ranging from the composer Virgil Thomson to the cartoonist Saul Steinberg.

If his network of influence was surprisingly wide, so too were his interests. He started life at the Bauhaus as a glassmaker and went on to create fonts, run their famous wallpaper workshop, and make furniture whose designs are still in production eighty years later. He pioneered the study of colour at Black Mountain College in North Carolina and chaired the design department at Yale University.

While books have been written about Albers for specialist audiences, this new volume fulfils the clear need for a more general study.