In his seminal 1976 book The Dyer’s Art, Jack Lenor Larsen wrote: “Without doubt one of the most successful combinations of innovation, craft and commerce in recent times has emanated from the various Tillett print studios.” From the 1950s through the 1970s, the husband-and-wife team of Doris Doctorow (D.D.) and Leslie Tillett designed and printed...

Doris Doctorow was working for Harper’s Bazaar when she was sent on assignment to Mexico to photograph the fabric workshop of brothers Leslie and James Tillett. She soon fell in love with Leslie, cancelled her return home, and learned the craft of silk-screen printing. Their partnership in work and life lasted nearly fifty years until...

When world-renowned architect David Adjaye was invited to curate an exhibition for the museum’s Selects series in 2015, he quickly chose to focus on the museum’s little-known collection of West African textiles, including works from Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Mali. Having devoted eleven years to an in-depth study of the architecture of the African...

The Milwaukee Handicraft Project’s block printing unit developed as an off-shoot of the bookbinding unit, when the designers there decided to decorate their book covers with linoleum block prints. This quickly evolved into the creation of printed yardage. Barbara Warren was among the graduates of the Milwaukee Teacher’s College art department who served as designer/supervisor,...

In celebration of Women’s History Month, March Object of the Day posts highlight women designers in the collection. From the 1950s through the 1970s, husband-and-wife designers D.D. and Leslie Tillett designed and printed custom fabric yardage in their studio on Manhattan’s Upper East Side under the name “House of T Fabrics.” Their fresh and original...

Chrysanthemum could be considered the signature print of House of T Fabrics. It was one of the studio’s best-selling designs for over forty years. House of T was founded on New York’s Upper East Side by the husband-and-wife design team of Leslie and D.D. Tillett. From their combined living and working space on East 80th...

Queen Anne’s Lace recalls the simple charm of a photogram, an early photographic process where objects, frequently botanical specimens, were placed directly on a photosensitive paper and exposed to sunlight. In fact, the detail captured in this floral design was probably created by placing the flowers directly on the photographic emulsion used to create the...

In 2015, British architect David Adjaye, who had recently completed the design of the acclaimed National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, was invited to curate an exhibition for the museum’s Selects series. Adjaye, who was born in Tanzania and raised in Ghana, has traveled to nearly every African nation and chose...

The sophisticated visual culture of the Kuba kingdom has been noted since the first explorers visited the region. Abstract geometric patterning is deployed across all media, from scarification of the skin to textiles, basketry, pottery, and even the woven walls of noble dwellings. The devices of color alternation, contrast of surface texture, and play of...