P22 Albers

This set of typefaces was produced in conjunction with the Guggenheim Museum and the Josef Albers Foundation. Josef Alber (1888-1976) was one of the most important artists and educators of the twentieth century. He was a member of the Bauhaus first as a student and then as a teacher from 1920 until its closing in 1933. He then emigrated to America, where he continued making art and teaching at numerous institutions until his death. Known principally as an abstract painter, he was also an accomplished designer, draftsman, typographer, and photographer. His works explore permutations of form, color, and perception using a restricted visual vocabulary. Created when he was at the Bauhaus, his Kombinationschrift alphabets exemplify the school’s ethos. Using 10 basic shapes based on the circle and the rectangle, he created a system of lettering that was meant to be efficient, easy to learn, and inexpensive to produce. These 10 shapes in combination could form any letter or number. The letterforms of this computer version were taken directly from Albers’drawings and notes.

© The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2021