Maleyne Syracuse
The Effulgence of Country GardensJack Lenor Larsen (b.1927) is one of America’s most prolific and innovative 20th Century textiles designers. He came to prominence in the 1950s with his distinctive hand-woven casement fabrics for the commercial contract market. But he was not surprised to later become best known for his sumptuous printed fabrics like Primavera. For Larsen, it was all about color. Jack Lenor Larsen, Don Wight, Gustav Klimt, velvet |
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A Fabric with a Touch of TomorrowAmerica 1957. Eisenhower was the President. Elvis was the King. And Ford Motor Company introduced its new 1957 automobiles, a “new kind of Ford with a touch of tomorrow.” The new Fords were wider, longer, lower, and zippier. Ford Motor Company, Automobile Design, Fairlane 500 Club, Town Victoria, Marianne Strengell |
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One Child's SederThis charming textile depicting a Seder was made in the late 1930s by A. Nedby, a ten-year old student at the Educational Alliance Art School on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Educational Alliance, Words Progress Administration, Federal Art Project, Great Depression, Passover, Seder |
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Color in CombinationWeaver and textile designer Dorothy Liebes had twin obsessions: texture and color, both exemplified by this sample from the museum’s collection. Dorothy Liebes, weaving, Color, texture |
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The Instruments of Christ’s Passion for $2 a YardIn 1951, Fernand Léger designed seventeen monumental stained glass windows (vitrail, in French), depicting the instruments of Christ’s passion, for the new Eglise du Sacré Coeur in Audincourt, France. In 1955, Léger used the design for one of these windows, Pincers and Nails, as the pattern for Vitrail, a textile produced by Fuller Fabrics. Fernand Léger, Fuller Fabrics, Modern Master Series, L’Eglise de Sacré Coeur Audincourt |
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Enhancing the ViewWeaver and designer Dorothy Liebes owed much of her success to her ability to create textiles that complemented and enhanced mid-century modern architecture. Using windows to bring the outside in was an integral part of the period's new design for living. Multiple large windows became a standard feature in new homes, often replacing fireplaces as the focal point of the main room. Dorothy Liebes, weaving, modern architecture, window treatments, interiors, textiles |
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A Pliable PlaneThe granite and glass Ford Foundation Headquarters Building on East 42nd Street in Manhattan was designed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates. Completed in 1967, the building is an icon of International Style Modernism. New York Times critic Ada Louise Huxtable hailed the building, with its sky-lit atrium and lush indoor garden, as “12 stories of subtle splendor.” Sheila Hicks, Warren Platner, Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates, Eero Saarinen, embroidery, Ford Foundation, International Style, modernist architecture, Interior Architecture, interiors, textile design |
