This printed cotton calico featuring the slogan “The Constitution Must Be Preserved” was produced for the presidential campaign of Tennessee senator John Bell, the Constitutional Union Party’s candidate in the contentious election of 1860. The party was formed in 1859 by former Whigs and members of the Know-Nothing party to attempt to bridge regional tensions...

This desk and stool, designed by Rena Dumas with Peter Coles for the Paris-based luxury brand Hermès, are made of pearwood, leather and polished brass, all lavish and sensuous materials. They are part of the firm’s Pippa furniture collection, along with eight other pieces. Space-saving collapsibility is a convenience not usually associated with luxury furniture....

Winslow Homer, an artist best known today for his facility with watercolor and beautiful seascapes, started as a largely self-taught, freelance illustrator. His skill gained him a position working for the popular mid-19th century periodical Harper’s Weekly. While working for Harper’s, Homer became intimately acquainted with the Civil War. He was sent to the front,...

“It is, indeed, a tribute to the appeal of the sheer granite walls of Katahdin that Church should have made so many studies of this region alone.”[1] -Myron Avery, writer and Maine adventurer American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826-1900) began visiting the region around Mt. Katahdin, Maine in 1852.  While Church is renowned for...

Airy Weave is an excellent example of technologically innovative contemporary Japanese textiles. It is a triple layer silk fabric woven on a jacquard loom with a middle layer that has no warp, which allows the weft threads to float independently of the two outer layers. The resulting structure highlights the textile’s dimensionality and movement, as...

The theme of this Royal Jewel Cabinet from France, dated 1824-26, is no doubt indulgence in all forms – especially love and extravagance. Its rich iconography displays symbols of love and jewels, where antiquity is mixed with early-nineteenth century depictions of flowers.[1] The cabinet is constructed of porcelain plaques in a gilt-bronze armature. A golden...

This roll of embossed imitation leather wallpaper is a beautiful example of Art Nouveau design. The pattern is a repeating design of a single motif, a stylized ear of wheat or other grain, lined up in offset horizontal rows. The leaves have been delicately rendered with the tip ending in a scroll, while the top...

Cooper Hewitt’s Department of Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design celebrates the recent acquisition of a group of designs for automobiles, an important area of industrial design that had not previously been well represented in the museum’s holdings. The drawings document designs throughout the twentieth century, highlighting the history and prominence of innovation in the American...

Tissu simultané no. 46, a bold geometric design of blue, yellow, and black lines on a white ground, has the hallmark characteristics of Sonia Delaunay’s textiles from the 1920s: contrasting colors with abstract, geometric, or rounded patterns that are block-printed on cotton or silk fabric. In fact, she often printed the same pattern and colorway...