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live November 21 | 12:00 PM
Christian Hesse Auktionen

95 - Bauhaus - Josef Albers. Handwritten letter with signature. Black Mountain, February 5, 1935. Two pages.

Starting price

€500

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Estimation

€500 - 750

Sale fees

32%

Bauhaus - Josef Albers. Handwritten letter with signature. Black Mountain, February 5, 1935. Two pages. Auction start time: approx. 12:54 p.m. (Schedule subject to change) A detailed letter, as warm as it is substantive, addressed to Annelis (Anette) Caspar in Hamburg—possibly the ceramic artist (1916–2008) who was studying there at the time. - In April 1933, the Nazis had permanently closed the Bauhaus in Berlin, where the school had relocated following the hostility it faced in Dessau. Just a few months later, the Albers left Germany, and Josef Albers became a lecturer at Black Mountain College in North Carolina until 1949. - “Dear Casparin, [...] Thus, what one has been taught is not as important as one’s own intensity. And constantly deepening that [...] is a major challenge, both artistically and personally.” Albers describes his life in America and recounts a trip: “4,500 km by car through Florida and a bit of Cuba. In Havana, I gave three lectures, held an exhibition of my woodcuts and glass paintings, and displayed some of my student work. We had a real summer: heat, sun, palm trees, bananas, oranges, pineapples, sugarcane, and I don’t even remember everything else. [...] Back home, I received wonderful news about my woodcut exhibition in Milan, which my friend Schawinsky (perhaps you saw him with us in Hiddensee) organized on the quiet.”—“You asked about the teachers in Berlin. [...] My friend Herbert Bayer [...] could tell you more about that. I consider him one of the very best modernists among advertising professionals. I think it would be best if you could work with him. [...] All the best. Sincerely, Albers. And from my wife as well. We are very happy here; we work in complete freedom and the best atmosphere.”—With an envelope addressed in his own hand. —Annelis Caspar studied in Berlin under Adolf Strübe from 1935 to 1938.

Text translated by DeepL.
Only the original version is legally binding

Auction details

Auction 34: Art & Books - Special Catalog: 20th-Century Artist's Books / Renker Collection, Part 2
Saturday, November 21
12:00 PM
86 A Osterbekstraße
22083 Hamburg, Germany

Auction house

Christian Hesse Auktionen +49 4 06 94 54 247 mail@hesse-auktionen.de
On Drouot for 4 years avec More than 1,000 lots published

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