Despite Straight Lines: Josef Albers, Concrete Poetry and Temporal Relations

This article delves into the relations between the avant-garde artist and poet Josef Albers (1888-1976) and a generation of neo-avant-garde concrete poets, among whom the Bolivian-Swiss poet Eugen Gomringer (b. 1925). It argues that contrary to what the prefix ‘neo’ may suggest, a straight line of influence does not account thoroughly for the diverse relations between avant-garde artists and neo-avant-garde creators. Based on close readings, new archival material as well as interpersonal relations, the case study of Albers and Gomringer shows that the retroaction of the younger generation on an avant-garde artist is as important as claims by the concrete poets of a debt to the avant-garde. The article thus seeks to theorize temporal relations via a specific case study.