Red Meander, Anni Albers

Anni Albers, a well-known textile artist, learned weaving at the Bauhaus and became one of the twentieth century's most respected painters. Albers traveled with her husband to Los Angeles' Tamarind Lithography Workshop in 1963, where she found the versatility of lithography. She began her printmaking career by combining her textile design abilities with material understanding. Her piece, Red Meander, revisits a pattern she created years ago in linen and cotton but does not replicate it. In this screen print, she used a single screen to print in different directions, using the same ink and a related hue, resulting in visual occurrences not found in drawing or painting.

This print is essential in the history of design as Anni Albers was a female pioneering 20th century painter whose work, writing, and teaching revolutionized people's perceptions of color and the art-making process. Both significant students at The Bauhaus, Anni and her husband Josef, were fascinated by printing techniques and created an array of design work that showcased her media processes and technological skills.

The device of the meander is named for a river in Greece, which winds its way through the countryside. The pattern was used extensively by the Greeks in their geometric pottery and on archaic sculpture, and by pre-Columbian cultures in textiles and sculptural reliefs.