Marion Dorn Kauffer

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Image of a magazine page of the start of an article on Marion Dorn, featuring a block of text and five colorful images depicting textile designs.
Marion Dorn, Back in the USA
American designers Marion V. Dorn and E. McKnight Kauffer returned to New York in 1940 after a long, productive period working abroad in England. Their retreat, spurred by World War II, was a hasty one. Dorn, the more resilient of the pair, spent much of the 1940s re-establishing her career, even briefly designing scarves for...
Image features: Tablecloth with square and rectangular compartments containing whimsical scenes inspired by Mughal and Persian miniature paintings and book illustrations. Scenes include seated musician on a carpet surrounded by flowering trees and swans, elephants with howdahs strapped to their backs, riders on horseback with parasols, and figures seated in elaborate garden pavilions. Primarily in shades of green, blue and pink. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
A Poetic Tablecloth
This colorful tablecloth was designed by Marion Dorn Kauffer, an accomplished twentieth-century designer primarily known for her textiles and carpets. Designing across different media, she also created wallpapers, illustrations, and graphics. The printed pattern that decorates this tablecloth features a series of square and rectangular vignettes inspired by Mughal painted miniatures from India. The vignettes...
Old Masters
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Cooper Hewitt is dedicating select Object of the Day entries to the work of women designers in our collection. This sidewall was designed by Marion Dorn Kauffer who is perhaps best remembered for the inspired batik textiles, rugs and interiors she created during the interwar years. Born in San...
a) On dark gray ground, signs of the Zodiac depicted in flat, bright primary colors, with white over-printing; b) Same, except signs of Zodiac in beige.
Marion Dorn’s Zodiac
Zodiac by Marion Dorn (American, 1899-1964) is an early screen-printed wallpaper produced by the American firm Bassett & Vollum. Containing the 12 signs of the zodiac with six printed in brilliant colors and six overprinted in white outline, Zodiac is a large-scale design printed on a deep green, almost black ground. The bold coloring and...