Uncommon catalogue of the pivotal 1969 exhibition “Wall Hangings”, held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 25 February- 4 May, I969. Featuring the work of 28 “modern weavers”, the exhibition was the first held at MoMA to be dedicated to fibre art. It is credited with helping to establish fibre art as a serious medium within the mainstream art world. The exhibition was curated by Mildred Constantine in collaboration with Jack Lenor Larsen. Cover image: Sheila Hicks, Prayer Rug, 1965
Including: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Anni Albers, Olga de Amaral, Evelyn Anselevicius, Thelma Becherer, Dolores Dembus Bittleman, Jagoda Buic, Zofia Butrymowicz, Barbara Falkowska, Wilhelmina Fruytier, Elsi Giauque, Françoise Grossen, Sheila Hicks, Ewa Jaroszynska, Annemarie Klingler, Walter G. Nottingham, Jolanta Owidzka, Mary Walker Phillips, Ed Rossbach, Mariette Rousseau-Vermette, Wojciech Sadley, Moik Schiele, Herman Scholten, Kay Sekimachi, Sherri Smith, Gunta Stölzl, Lenore Tawney, Susan Weitzman.
“Over the past five decades, “Wall Hangings” has had a fascinating historiographical trajectory. Initially it attracted little attention, with the conspicuous exception of a Louise Bourgeois interview that ran in the March/April 1969 issue of Craft Horizons, directly juxtaposed with an essay by Larsen. Bourgeois, who was not in the show, did a little policing of institutional boundaries: the works in the MoMA show, she noted, “if they must be classified . . . fall somewhere between fine and applied art.” Yet most of her comments were more evocative and elusive, raising doubts as to whether such classification was really worthwhile. When she first heard the exhibition title, the great Surrealist said, she thought of mail sacks hanging from a post office wall, “beautiful in their simplicity and practicality. Larsen and Constantine knew that if they wanted their exhibition to leave a critical legacy, they would have to provide it themselves. In 1972 they published Beyond Craft: The Art Fabric, which enlarged on the MoMA catalogue (literally—the book is huge, and beautifully illustrated), and in 1981 released The Art Fabric: Mainstream (also a doorstop). The latter subtitle was certainly wishful thinking, for by this time the fiber art movement had receded from the limelight, dismissed as an outgrowth of hippie macramé (actually, it had been the other way around). The fact that women had been the primary protagonists of the fiber movement was doubtless a salient factor in its marginalization.”
– Glenn Adamson, “Experiencing the Shock of the Old: Fiber Artists Rediscover Shows Like MoMA’s Pivotal 1969 “Wall Hangings”, in Art in America, June 23, 2020.
Title: Wall Hangings
Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Publication Date: 1969
Format: stapled softcover
Images: 37 black and white images
Pages: 52 pp.
Language: English
Condition: very good. Ownership stamp of Jane and Larry Eindender to title page (Larry Einbender was associated with the New York Studio School). Deaccession stamp to same page.
Provenance: The Library of Rod Hill
Stock Number: RB05179 RH
Uncommon catalogue of the pivotal 1969 exhibition “Wall Hangings”, held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 25 February- 4 May, I969. Featuring the work of 28 “modern weavers”, the exhibition was the first held at MoMA to be dedicated to fibre art. It is credited with helping to establish fibre art as a serious medium within the mainstream art world. The exhibition was curated by Mildred Constantine in collaboration with Jack Lenor Larsen. Cover image: Sheila Hicks, Prayer Rug, 1965
Including: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Anni Albers, Olga de Amaral, Evelyn Anselevicius, Thelma Becherer, Dolores Dembus Bittleman, Jagoda Buic, Zofia Butrymowicz, Barbara Falkowska, Wilhelmina Fruytier, Elsi Giauque, Françoise Grossen, Sheila Hicks, Ewa Jaroszynska, Annemarie Klingler, Walter G. Nottingham, Jolanta Owidzka, Mary Walker Phillips, Ed Rossbach, Mariette Rousseau-Vermette, Wojciech Sadley, Moik Schiele, Herman Scholten, Kay Sekimachi, Sherri Smith, Gunta Stölzl, Lenore Tawney, Susan Weitzman.
“Over the past five decades, “Wall Hangings” has had a fascinating historiographical trajectory. Initially it attracted little attention, with the conspicuous exception of a Louise Bourgeois interview that ran in the March/April 1969 issue of Craft Horizons, directly juxtaposed with an essay by Larsen. Bourgeois, who was not in the show, did a little policing of institutional boundaries: the works in the MoMA show, she noted, “if they must be classified . . . fall somewhere between fine and applied art.” Yet most of her comments were more evocative and elusive, raising doubts as to whether such classification was really worthwhile. When she first heard the exhibition title, the great Surrealist said, she thought of mail sacks hanging from a post office wall, “beautiful in their simplicity and practicality. Larsen and Constantine knew that if they wanted their exhibition to leave a critical legacy, they would have to provide it themselves. In 1972 they published Beyond Craft: The Art Fabric, which enlarged on the MoMA catalogue (literally—the book is huge, and beautifully illustrated), and in 1981 released The Art Fabric: Mainstream (also a doorstop). The latter subtitle was certainly wishful thinking, for by this time the fiber art movement had receded from the limelight, dismissed as an outgrowth of hippie macramé (actually, it had been the other way around). The fact that women had been the primary protagonists of the fiber movement was doubtless a salient factor in its marginalization.”
– Glenn Adamson, “Experiencing the Shock of the Old: Fiber Artists Rediscover Shows Like MoMA’s Pivotal 1969 “Wall Hangings”, in Art in America, June 23, 2020.
Title: Wall Hangings
Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Publication Date: 1969
Format: stapled softcover
Images: 37 black and white images
Pages: 52 pp.
Language: English
Condition: very good. Ownership stamp of Jane and Larry Eindender to title page (Larry Einbender was associated with the New York Studio School). Deaccession stamp to same page.
Provenance: The Library of Rod Hill
Stock Number: RB05179 RH
