Book Illustration, Tapis et tissus (Carpets and fabrics), Albers à Dessau, plate 17

Early in her career, weaver Anni Albers designed textiles and wall hangings by working on new double and jacquard looms. This early wall hanging, which she made while studying at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, was included in Tapis et Tissus présenté par Sonia Delaunay, a 1929 compilation in which Delaunay featured own designs along with carpet and textile designs by her contemporaries. Albers regarded straight lines and systematized abstract form as a means of providing a clarity and serenity she felt were absent in nature and in other aspects of the human experience. It was said that Albers approached textiles almost like a sculptor. She used complex weaving, including knotting and intertwining of linked threads, to enrich the texture of her works. She is perhaps the best known textile artist of the 20th century.