Josef Albers

Alexander Eliot: Albers had found his feet at Black Mountain. He took charge there and became not only a great teacher but also a seminal painter – a colorist of the very subtlest order ... Albers awakened, trained, and/or inspired many of the men and women who would significantly shape and reshape American art. But whether he acknowledged the fact or not, Albers himself owed a permanent, personal debt to John Rice.

Claude Stoller: He was far and away the most stimulating personality that I had ever encountered. He did open my eyes and it changed my life. Outside of our classes I consulted with him on furniture I was designing and building, and he gave me direction and much encouragement in photography.

Harold Raymond: Albers seemed too hostile to my interests and to democratic values so that I could never feel comfortable with him. This may be unfair, but it was how he affected a surprisingly large group of students in the 1933-43 decade. Some of the art students were the most isolated from the general life of the community while a minority of the painting students developed a style in open conflict with Albers's teaching.

Robert Sunley: Albers, a master in his own field, did not shine on the Board (of Fellows): he was Germanic in his views, lofty and even disdainful about students' opinions, conservative in his outlook though sincere in his concern for the college.

Ruth O'Neill Burnett: Not that he required that kind of hero-worship – he was really a rather shy kind of person and sweet natured as I remember. Later, when he and I were both at Yale University ... that evaluation of his personality was confirmed.