lies, to my mind,” she explained, “in the fact that their con- corresponding constructive processes, such as double 17 cern was the interplay of structural and formal concepts. . . . and triple weaves.” Fascinated by the structural meth- one senses the daring and discipline that conceived and ods and techniques of interlocking threads that Andean planned them.”12 Albers not only appropriated formal civilizations had achieved, she particularly admired their motifs and designs such as checkerboards, diamonds, mastery of multi-ply structures such as double, triple, qua- and meanders from the ancient sources—thus satisfying druple, and tubular weaves.18 Double weaves are fabrics the Bauhaus interest in universal primary symbols—but, that present two separate layers, which can be locked at more importantly, she also assimilated the constructive both sides, at one side, or within the fabric, wherever the methods of repetition, mirroring, and modular variations design asks for an exchange of top and bottom layers found in the individually patterned rectangles of tocapu (usually of different colors). Such cloths have been found tunics, the 昀椀nest garments worn by the Incas, for example, in textiles of the Paracas and in the Nasca traditions of the or the positive and negative shapes of Tiwanaku cloths. In late 昀椀rst millennium bce and 昀椀rst centuries ce, respectively. her practice, she put the textile technology at the service Albers once explained that “the purpose of these ancient of the formal program. double- and multi-ply weaves was in most instances an Further, Albers considered weaving a high art, just as aesthetic one, that is, they were to make possible designs pre-Hispanic Peruvian societies had. Her output came to of solid colored areas within other contrasting solid col- challenge the traditional arts-and-crafts divide responsi 19 - ored areas.” This type of compositional pattern can also ble for the marginalization of textiles in the modern era, be appreciated in Paul Klee’s grid-based paintings from and to claim a central space for their artistic and cul- his Bauhaus years, based on contrasts of color and grada- tural signi昀椀cance. From the apparent collision between tion of tonalities that dynamize the picture plane. craft and industry, she envisioned textiles as a solution While training in the textile workshop, Albers conceived that could fully engage the modernist project. With the the double weave Black-White-Yellow (1926, rewoven 1965; growing demands of industry, and the premonition that 昀椀g. 29). Her design for Black-White-Yellow (1926; 昀椀g. 30), a machines would end up substituting handwork and craft, gouache and pencil on paper, sets up the pattern of the Albers promoted hand weaving for the design of textile weaving, which superimposes layers to create a dynamic models suited for mass production. The Bauhaus provided concatenation of color sequences. This drawing also a platform for this realization; re昀氀ecting later on the most salient “learning outcomes” of her years there, she high- lighted not only having acquired an “unprejudiced attitude” to materials but also having shifted from free play with forms toward more systematic training in the construction of weaving structures that could be used as prototypes for 13 industrial production. The alliance of design and industry was re昀氀ected in the new motto of the Bauhaus in 1923: “Art 14 and technology: a new unity.” Its director Walter Gropius endorsed the concept of “model work” to such a degree that making prototypes became an important source of 15 income for the otherwise 昀椀nancially strained school. Albers reiterated this mission over a decade later, while on the faculty at Black Mountain College, stating that “teaching 16 has to lead toward planning for industrial repetition.” With a functionalist drive, Albers systematized the design and production of complex and quality weavings that satis昀椀ed modern technology as much as her aesthetic commitment to abstraction. Among Albers’s contributions to the Bauhaus was her ability, as Gardner Troy puts it, “to unite a geometrically abstract visual vocabulary with Fig 30. Anni Albers. Design for Black-White-Yellow, 1926. Gouache and pencil on paper, 13 ⼀最 × 9 ⼀欀 in. (34. 9 × 23.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York (399.1951) 31