Author: Maleyne Syracuse

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Weaving Wonders of Richard Landis
American weaver Richard Landis’s works are characterized by complex design systems that echo the logic of their construction with a limited vocabulary of materials, texture, geometric forms, and colors. From his earliest days at the loom, Landis decided he would work only in plain weave and within the opportunities offered by handwoven, loom-controlled design. He...
Image features: Black ground scattered with small irregular white forms with black stick figures and touches of color. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Fabric Art
In 1953, Dan Fuller, president of Fuller Fabrics, invited five of the 20th century’s most distinguished artists: Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, and Raoul Dufy, to collaborate on a line of textiles to be called the Modern Master Series. The concept was unique in that the artists were not commissioned to produce...
Image features: Rows of ten images related to the history of digital culture, including a portrait of Jacquard, punch cards, a guillotine, an automaton, a design for a prosthetic hand, and microchip, binary code. Predominately woven in shades of blue, grey and brown with metallic gold and silver. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
A Permutation Unfolding
Eve Andrée Laramée is an installation sculptor whose work challenges assumptions about the authority of history, science, and art. This textile, which Laramée designed as the focal point of A Permutational Unfolding, her 1999 exhibition at MIT’s List Visual Arts Center Gallery, confronts the standard history of the computer as a descendant of calculating or...
Image features a grid of brilliantly colored rectangles of varied sizes on an unbleached linen ground. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Double the Color
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. This post was originally published October 17, 2015. Jack Lenor Larsen collaborated with artists, designers, and craftspeople all over the world. The collaboration between Larsen and Richard...
Textile, "Gold Ripple-Wave Fabric", ca. 1956
A Fabric with a Touch of Tomorrow
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color, Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. This post was originally published September 4, 2012. America, 1957. Eisenhower was the President. Elvis was “the King.” And Ford Motor Company introduced its new 1957 automobiles, a “new kind...
Image features a 2/2 twill with geometric pattern of projecting loops made by supplementary warp. Warp: black 3 ply string; supplementary warp of red bouclé. Weft: black 3 ply string paired with flat metallic gold. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Color in Combination
In celebration of Women’s History Month, March Object of the Day posts highlight women designers in the collection. Today’s blog post was written by Maleyne Syracuse and originally published on March 20, 2013. Weaver and textile designer Dorothy Liebes had twin obsessions: texture and color, both exemplified by this sample from the museum’s collection. Liebes’...
Picasso’s Birds
In 1953, Dan Fuller, president of Fuller Fabrics, invited five of the 20th century’s most distinguished artists: Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, and Raoul Dufy, to collaborate on a line of textiles to be called the Modern Master Series. The concept was unique in that the artists were not commissioned to produce...
Picture of Textile: Paradis Terrestre (Earthly Paradise)
Forbidden Fruit
In this fabric, designer Jean Beaumont uses a lush pattern of oversized exotic florals and foliage, interspersed with stylized animal and human figures, to call forth an idyllic scene of paradise on earth. This, however, is a fleeting paradise, as the female figure (Eve) hands the forbidden fruit to the male (Adam). This sophisticated evocation...
Picture of a Textile, 1920–1929, designed by Thomas Lamb
Jazz Goddess
This textile pattern features Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt, bow in hand, accompanied by her hunting dogs and surrounding by her prey—antelopes or gazelles. Diana—as a metaphor for commerce and the hunt for profits—was a popular theme in the 1920s. This highly stylized rendering of the huntress surrounded by prancing animals may have been...