German artist, theoretician and designer, part of the Bauhaus. In 1925 he became a teacher there with his new wife Anni (née Fleischmann), an influential textile designer. When the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis in 1933, the couple left for America. They taught at the Black Mountain College of Art in North Carolina, which itself became a center of Bauhaus design. In 1950 Albers went on to direct the Yale Design School until 1960. Albers made major contributions to colour theory.