Textile Art
A $3 million gift from the Avenir Foundation, announced in January 2012, is transforming the department of textile art. The donation from the foundation will support the expansion of the gallery, slated to open in the summer 2013, and form an endowment that will fund staff and its program in perpetuity. Perhaps the two best known areas of the textile art department are its internationally exhibited and widely published American quilt collection and its extensive holdings of late Qing Dynasty Chinese costumes and textiles. This diverse department, however, contains many more riches.
Neusteter Textile Gallery, Level 6, North Building
When the textile art gallery reopened in 1997 on level six of the North Building of the museum, it was named in honor of previous benefactors, Bernita and Myron Neusteter. The entire textile art collection, formed by purchases and gifts from many sources, is now known as the Neusteter Textile Collection. The Neusteter Textile Gallery displays changing exhibitions drawn primarily from the permanent collection. Plans are currently evolving to expand the space and to relocate the gallery to the northwest half of level six.
Textile exhibitions such as Crazy Quilts and Other Curiosities; For the Greater Glory of God: Ecclesiastical Vestments and Textiles; and Lighter than Air: Gauze Robes from China highlight specific aspects of the collection while other shows like Cultural Coatings, Fabulous Floral Fabrics, or No Boundaries: Art + Fiber, are thematic and cut cross centuries and countries. From time to time, special solo contemporary artist showcases are installed. The current exhibition, Sleight of Hand, featured at the top of this page and on display until November 25, 2012, presents work by 14 contemporary artists who trick the eye with unexpected materials, unusual techniques, and out-and-out illusion.
A $3 million gift from the Avenir Foundation, announced in January 2012, is transforming the department of textile art. The donation from the foundation will support the expansion of the gallery, slated to open in the summer 2013, and form an endowment that will fund staff and its program in perpetuity.
The new textile art gallery space will occupy more than six times its current square footage, allowing the department to show a greater portion of its collection as well as host larger and more frequent loan exhibitions. Also planned are scientific and educational spaces, a staging area for exhibition preparation, and storage for the more than 5,000 textile objects in the DAM’s collection. An additional gift from trustee Nancy Lake Benson will underwrite an innovative and interactive educational area. Support from Mary Ellen Anderson will enable the hiring of a full-time textile conservator.
The Collection
The origins of the department date to 1927, with the gift to the museum of a Kashmir shawl—the museum’s first recorded non-American Indian textile. In 1955, Lydia Roberts Dunham was appointed the first curator of textiles, succeeded by Imelda G. DeGraw in 1965, who held that position until her retirement in 1992. During the tenure of these curators, the collection grew dramatically, assisted by the creation of the Neusteter Fashion, Costume and Textile Institute in 1962, which for 10 years helped support acquisitions and promote artistic appreciation of the collection.
In 1996, Alice Zrebiec, formerly a textile curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was charged as consulting curator to display the collections—among the most popular with museum visitors—after several years of exhibition hiatus. Changing the focus of the department to reflect its position within a museum of fine art and design required assessing and refining the collections and their presentation. This also prompted renaming the department, which was originally known as textiles and costumes, to textile art. With the announcement of the Avenir Foundation gift, Dr. Zrebiec has transitioned from consulting curator to the full-time position of the Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art.
Perhaps the two best known areas of the textile art department are its internationally exhibited and widely published American quilt collection and its extensive holdings of late Qing Dynasty Chinese costumes and textiles. This diverse department, however, contains many more riches. Its wide-ranging scope extends from pre-Columbian and Coptic archeological textiles to contemporary works of art in fiber and overlaps culturally and/or chronologically with the departments of Asian art, pre-Columbian art, Spanish colonial art, painting and sculpture, western art, and modern and contemporary art. Objects under its curatorial charge include all textiles in the Denver Art Museum except American Indian, African and Oceanic textiles, which are collected by the Native Arts Department, and the textiles and rugs in the Herbert Bayer collection.
Collection Highlights
Notable aspects of the textile art collection include:
- An internationally recognized collection of more than 300 American quilts. These include examples made by and donated by Charlotte Jane Whitehill (1866-1964), a well-known appliqué quilt maker who was a member of an extremely talented group of quilters in Emporia, Kansas, before moving to Denver. Whitehill’s Indiana Wreath quilt and The Matterhorn quilt by Myrtle M. Fortner (1880-1966), were honored by a jury drawn from four major American quilt societies in 1999 as being among the 100 best quilts of the 1900s. Also notable are the mid-19th century quilts, including the extraordinary broderie perse album quilt given to Anna Eliza Pratt; crazy quilts; and Amish and Mennonite quilts. In 2008, Dr. Guido Goldman donated 15 exceptional quilts and 5 coverlets to the collection.
- More than 100 American coverlets representing overshot, double cloth, and Biederwand techniques and including significant gifts from both Mrs. S. Effie Parkhill and Stewart and Carol Strickler. A coverlet made by Harry Tyler and dated 1835 is one of our most recent additions, a gift of Barbara Poytress Dallow and Earl F. Poytress.
- The Julia Wolf Glasser collection, given by Mr. and Mrs. Raymond L. Grimes, comprises more than 100 samplers, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries and made in Europe, North and South America.
- The Charlotte Hill Grant collection of more than 600 Chinese court costumes and accessories—primarily late Qing Dynasty—acquired by Mrs. Grant in China in the 1920s and 1930s, and subsequently gifted to the museum by her children, James P. Grant and Betty Austin Grant, in 1977.
- Ecclesiastical vestments and textiles from the Renaissance to the 1900s, particularly the gift of Rev. John Krenzke. Included in the latter is a tour de force set of 5 vestments: the Angel chasuble, maniple, stole, chalice veil and chalice cover designed by Gaspard Poncet (1820-1892) and woven by the firm of J. A. Henry in 1889 in Lyon, France.
- Textiles from India, made for local use as well as resist-dyed palampores created for export to Europe and Indonesia
- Indonesian batik
- European lace
- A growing collection of contemporary art in fiber. Recent additions include works by Carol Shinn, Lia Cook and Carol Eckert.
- Western costume and accessories, both ethnographic and fashion, illustrate specific textile techniques or design movements.
- There are smaller holdings of Asian carpets, European tapestries, pre-Columbian textiles, Coptic textile fragments, Islamic textiles, and historic European textiles
Working with other curatorial departments, textile art has lent objects for display in the Asian, pre-Columbian, and Spanish colonial art galleries, thus placing the textiles into a larger cultural context. In turn, objects from Asian art, modern and contemporary, and native arts have been installed in the textile gallery to illustrate cross-cultural influences and design parallels.
The latest special exhibition, Threads of Heaven: Silken Legacy of the China’s Last Dynasty, closed on January 29, 2012. It featured more than 90 objects from the DAM’s permanent collection of Chinese costumes and textiles that illustrate aspects of late Qing Dynasty court life and culture. Other large, major exhibitions such as Ikat: Splendid Silks of Central Asia from the Guido Goldman Collection, Kaleidoscope of Color: Amish Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown, and Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt brought to the Denver public objects that are not available in our collections or that complement our collections.
Publications
Publications by and about the textile art department include:
- American Patchwork Quilt: The Denver Art Museum Collection. Tokyo: Kokusai Art, 1986.
- Secret Splendors of the Chinese Court: Qing Dynasty Textiles from the Charlotte Hill Grant Collection. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1981. Available in the Museum Shop.
- 25 Years Couturiers. DeGraw, Imelda G. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1975.
- The Denver Art Museum: Quilts and Coverlets. DeGraw, Imelda G. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1974.
- Fibre Structures. DeGraw, Imelda G. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1972.
- The Neusteter Institute of Fashion, Costume, and Textiles of the Denver Art Museum. Dunham, Lydia Roberts. Denver Art Museum Quarterly. Denver: Denver Art Museum, Winter 1965.
- Denver Art Museum Quilt Collection. Dunham, Lydia Roberts. Denver Art Museum Quarterly. Denver: Denver Art Museum, Winter 1963.
- Denver Art Museum Costume Collection. Dunham, Lydia Roberts. Denver Art Museum Quarterly. Denver: Denver Art Museum, Summer 1962.
- Clothes Make the Man. Bach, Cile M. Denver Art Museum Quarterly. Denver: Denver Art Museum, Spring 1956.
Current Staff
- Dr. Alice M. Zrebiec, Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art
- Carla Stansifer, Curatorial Assistant
- Stefania Van Dyke, Master Teacher
Past Staff
- Lydia Roberts Dunham, Curator, 1955-1962
- Imelda G. DeGraw, Curator, 1965-1992
Charlotte Jane Whitehill (American. 1866-1964)
Indiana Wreath
1930
Cotton: appliqued, stuffed, quilted and embroidered
The Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Charlotte Jane Whitehill, 1955.56
In 1929, at the age of sixty-three, Charlotte Jane Cline Whitehill (1866-1964) began to make the appliqué quilts for which she became famous. Born in Wisconsin, Whitehill moved to Kansas with her family in her late teens. Although she had learned to make pieced quilts in her youth, it was as a widow and as a diversion from her job as a district manager for an insurance company that she turned to appliqué and her talent blossomed. At the time she was living in Emporia, Kansas, and was part of an exceptional community of quiltmakers. They assiduously studied earlier pieces, copying as well as adapting family heirlooms and museum examples, subsequently preserving these patterns for posterity. Several quilters – notably Rose Good Kretsinger and Whitehill – developed new patterns as well. Whitehill moved to Denver in 1940, where she resided until her death.
Named one of the one hundred best quilts of the twentieth century, Indiana Wreath was Whitehill’s second quilt. An example made in 1858 by Elizabeth J. Hart and illustrated and extolled in 1915 by Marie Webster in her influential book Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them, was the basis for copies made by several quiltmakers in Emporia. As with all her quilts, Whitehill appliquéd the pattern, but then had someone else, whose name, unfortunately, remains unknown, do the quilting.
Myrtle M. Fortner (American, 1880–1966)
The Matterhorn
1934
Pieced cotton
The Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Melvin Dorsett, 1967.89
Inspired by photographs from her niece’s trip to Switzerland, Fortner made pastel drawings that became the basis for this image. She persistently sought out suitably colored fabrics—resorting to dyeing them herself when necessary—for the more than nine thousand squares that combine physically and optically to create a picture of the mountain, lodge, trees, and stream. The lines formed by her quilting stitches act like brushstrokes, rendering and enhancing forms while simultaneously introducing a sense of movement. This unique example was named one of the one hundred best quilts of the twentieth century.
Album Quilt
New Jersey/Pennsylvania; Delaware River Valley
1842-3
Glazed block- and roller-printed cotton appliqué (broderie perse), silk embroidery, ink drawings and inscriptions on cotton; cotton fringe
Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds from Nancy Lake Benson and Bruce Benson and the Anonymous Acquisition Challenge Grant
1985.300
This quilt was made for Anna Eliza Pratt, granddaughter of Henry Pratt, one of Philadelphia’s leading merchants. The first inscribed date in 1842 is after her marriage to Lewis Perrine, and that recorded in 1843 is after the birth of their daughter, Mary. Each of the well-wishers whose names appear on the quilt gifted a block, but the identity of the skilled maker is still in question.
To create bouquets and arrangements, flowers were cut from printed cottons, often expensive imported fabrics, assembled into the desired design, and carefully stitched down. This technique is called broderie perse (Persian embroidery) although it was practiced in England and America. Smaller blossoms and fine details were drawn with pen and ink or embroidered.
These rare floral forget-me-nots are sometimes called bride’s quilts or friendship quilts. This example relates in style and technique to a distinct group of quilts made in Philadelphia and New Jersey in the 1840s. Some of the same inscribed names appear on a quilt in the DAR Museum, Washington, D. C., and another belonging to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska.
J. M. Davidson (American, active 1836-1850)
Coverlet
Woven wool and cotton
Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Miss Mary Willsea
1962.37
From signed and dated coverlets we know that Davidson was a "fancy weaver" in New York between 1836 and 1850. This coverlet made for Charlotte Seeley combines a field pattern of lily wreaths and floral motifs with a patriotic border: set under an arc of stars, an array of spread-winged eagles clutch arrows in their claws and stand between fruiting trees and weeping willows.
Bedcover (colcha) or Hanging
Mexico
1775-1825
Wool and cotton crewel embroidery on wool
Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of the Frederic H. Douglas Collection
1956.54
Mexico was a cultural crossroads where design motifs from Europe and Asia, primarily China via the Philippines, mingled with local styles and preferences. The central allegorical figure of Fame is depicted in European terms: she holds two trumpets and, depending on whether she is spreading good or bad reports, blows the right- or left-hand trumpet. The serrated leaves and trees probably reflect Near Eastern design influence, while the peonies, flowers, and foliage are inspired by Far Eastern examples.
Mantle
Paracas, Peru
c. 100 BC - AD 200
Cotton fabric with camelid fiber embroidery (probably alpaca)
Funds from Alvin & Geraldine Cohen, Mr. & Mrs. Morris A. Long, Tom & Noël Congdon, Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Gary, Hannah Levy, Jan & Frederick R. Mayer, Myron & Louann Miller, Neusteter Institute Fund, Margaret Powers, Mrs. Charles Rosenbaum, Mr. & Mrs. Irving Shwayder, Mr. & Mrs. Edward M. Strauss, Mr. & Mrs. Taplin and the Volunteer Endowment Fund, 1980.44
Paracas block color embroideries were created by groups of individuals. A master designer selected the design layout and color combinations, which were often extremely complex. After the motif outlines were stitched by expert embroiderers, the colors could be filled in by less experienced hands.
Woman’s Coat
Central Europe
Inscribed, and dated 1900
Sheepskin with silk embroidery and tassels, leather appliqué, and stamping
The Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Frederic Douglas, 1949.27
For centuries, an embroidered sheepskin cape or coat was a highly coveted and extremely expensive necessity in areas of current-day Hungary and Romania. These cherished garments were the result of a collaborative effort among a number of specialists: a master who created the pattern and planned the construction, apprentices who performed the lengthily preparation of the skins, and women who embroidered the individual pieces before they were assembled. Although there are regional differences, a symmetrical arrangement of stylized polychrome floral motifs—and occasionally creatures—as well as specific abstracted appliquéd leather shapes was preferred and shown against a light or white background.
Flemish designer, active late 1500s - early 1600s
Military Scenes
Woven at an unknown Brussels atelier, probably early 1600s
Wool and silk tapestry
Neusteter Textile Collection: Anonymous Gift
1974.275
References to war, victory and peace appear in this tapestry. At lower left, a foot soldier, seen next to a mounted warrior, brandishes a sword; in the background, troops gather. At center right, a group of men shown without their helmets and weapons and wearing laurel wreaths, approach figures gathered before a columned building. In the side borders, animals in combat are interspersed among floral bouquets and figural scenes. The large figures in the borders represent, clockwise from upper left, Victory, Fame, War, and Peace. Although the exact subject of the center composition remains unidentified, this tapestry relates stylistically to a set of hangings that depict scenes from the story of the Roman general, Scipio Africanus.
Hanging
Ottoman Empire
1700s – 1800s
Wool appliqué, silk and metal thread embroidery on wool
Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Jeff Bain
1983.234
This intriguing embroidery has affinities with textiles from East and West. The opulent floral bouquet shows the influence of European silk-embroidered designs. The appliqué work is very intricate and three-dimensional: layer upon layer of wool shapes create flowers, leaves, and other motifs. The shape of the niche, however, recalls the mihrab form found on Near Eastern prayer rugs as well as decorative panels for the interiors of tents, while the border echoes carpet and manuscript patterns. Made in professional workshops, hangings such as this were traded in Banja Luka (today located in Bosnia) and a number still survive in Hungary.
Imperial Cover or Hanging
China, Qing Dynasty
About 1850
Silk and metal thread embroidery on silk
Neusteter Textile collection: Gift of Dr. Arnold L. Tanis, 1974.216
An imperial dragon and two phoenixes, representing the emperor and empress, dominate this royal gift. Carp turning into dragons, seen at the bottom, symbolize passing exams. Bats, whose name, fu, sounds the same as the word for good fortune, fill the background as do images of Buddhist symbols, scholarly pursuits, and wish-granting clouds. The pagoda in the sea is a longevity motif: two cranes carry bamboo counters to place in the vase within the building. Each counter represents the time it takes for the ocean to change to solid land.
Imperial Manchu Man’s Semiformal Court Robe with Twelve Symbols of Sovereignty
China, Qing Dynasty
1850-1875
Woven silk and metal thread tapestry
Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of James P. Grant and Betty Grant Austin, 1977.196
In 1759, the emperor added the twelve Chinese symbols of ancient imperial authority to his Manchu court robes, acknowledging the importance of the two-millennium-old images. Related to the sacral duties of the Son of Heaven, the twelve symbols also represent the emperor’s wide-reaching power and Confucian values associated with a worthy ruler. Other auspicious symbols on the robe—the round red wanshou, the swastika-fret pattern and bats—wish great longevity and happiness. The red double-joy symbol, often found on wedding garments, is unusual on an official robe.
Sleeve Bands for a Chinese Woman’s Informal Coat: Cai Wenji Returning to China and Wang Zhaojun Departs for the Frontier
China, Qing Dynasty
1850-1875
Silk and metal thread embroidery on silk
Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of James P. Grant and Betty Grant Austin, 1977.466.1-2
Two Han dynasty ladies, Cai Wenji (177-250AD) and Wang Zhaojun (1st c. B.C) were married to Xiongnu, or Barbarians. Wenji was kidnapped and taken to the Mongolian steppe where she was forced to marry a king. She is shown in a tent with one of her two sons. The man dressed as a Manchu gentleman portrays her husband, who agreed to let her return to China but would not allow his sons to go. Wang Zhaojun, an imperial concubine, volunteered to marry a Xiongnu lord as a political bride. She carries her stringed pipa and rides a white horse. Both stories inspired Chinese operas.
Fireman’s Coat
Japan
late 1800s- early 1900s
Quilted (sashiko) cotton cloth with freehand paste resist decoration (tsutsugaki)
The Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds from Mrs. Simon Guggenheim, by exchange
1999.265
Japanese firemen's coats are reversible. For the New Year and other special occasions, a fireman wore his jacket with the pictorial side, here shown on the interior, facing outwards. On this coat, the Toad Spirit offers to teach magic to Jiraya, a notorious robber, on the condition that he use it only to benefit humanity.
When fighting fires, the coat was worn as pictured. A bold, legible pattern on the back identified the fireman's brigade. The coat was worn with close fitting trousers, a hood, and gloves. When saturated with water, the layers of quilted cotton helped provide protection against the flames.
Ancestral Altar Cloth (tok wi)
Indonesia
1900-1920
Tulis (handdrawn) batik on cotton ground
The Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds from Mrs. McIntosh Buell, by exchange
2000.51
Tok wi are altar cloths for hanging in front of an ancestral altar in a Perankan (Chinese-Indonesian) home. Each occasion required its own colors and motifs—bright red being used for festive occasions, primarily weddings. The female figure with two attendants and two children in the center of the roundel may be Zhong Li-quan, who holds the secrets of the elixir of life. Surrounding the roundel are four phoenixes. Whimsical figures—human and centaur—dance across the top of the panel.
Palampore
India, Coromandel Coast
late 1600s - early 1700s
Resist and mordant dyed cotton
The Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds, by exchange, from Neusteter Institute Funds, Mrs. Uvedale Lambert, Mrs. Ira Boyd Humphreys, and Mrs. Andrews D. Black
2002.1
Twisting and turning as it rises from the rocky ground, this sinuous tree of life bursts into flower with large, showy blossoms. Made in India through a labor-intensive process of repeated dyeings, such hangings were widely exported. The details of the design and coloration were adapted for specific markets. This particular type of hanging was highly prized by the Toraja of Sulawesi, Indonesia, who believed the cloth had special powers and used it for ceremonial purposes.
Hanging or Cover
Uzbekistan
1800s
Silk embroidery on cotton
The Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds, by exchange, from Mr. and Ms. Lawrence J. Phipps, Jr. and Neusteter Institute Funds
2002.3
Vividly embroidered cloths were an essential part of a Central Asian bride's dowry. Known as suzanis (from the Persian word suzan, meaning needle), they were made by female relatives and friends and vary in size according to their intended use, form large wall hangings to small cushion covers. A medium-size piece like this could have been used as a covering. The bold red rosettes are thought to represent poppies, while the palmettes, considered the flower of the pomegranate, symbolize fertility. When displayed throughout the home, these textiles created a virtual garden.
Ikat wall hanging
Uzbekistan
mid 1800s
Cotton and silk
The Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Guido Goldman
2005.139
A century-and-a-half ago in the fabled cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, ikat weavings were hung on walls where they created the atmosphere of a garden oasis in the stark Central Asian steppe. The intense colors and riotous patterns were produced through a painstaking process in which the design was resist-dyed onto individual silk warp threads before the fabric was woven. This wall hanging is one of seven ikats given to the museum by Guido Goldman. A former Harvard professor, Dr. Goldman formed the world's largest and most comprehensive private collection of nineteenth-century ikats, which he subsequently gifted to various museums.
James Koehler (American, 1952-2011)
Chief Blanket with Blocks
Designed 1991, woven 2002; number 8 in an edition of 8
Tapestry; hand-dyed wool, cotton
Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds by exchange from Claudia H. de Osborne and Louise Vigoda, 2002.117
“Color, structure, and form are the focus of my approach to design” said the artist. Koehler here pays tribute to the dynamic stripes of the Navajo Chief Blanket and the Diamond in the Square pattern of Lancaster Amish quilts, but translates and unites these sources into his own distinctive composition.
Lia Cook (American, born 1941)
Face Maze: Tera
2007
Woven cotton and rayon
Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds from various donors, by exchange
2011.279
Fascinated by the way viewers respond differently to photographic images and textured weavings, Cook blends the two media. From a distance, the image of her niece is clearly visible, but as one approaches, it gradually dissolves into a woven maze. The artist continuously experiments with new technologies and ways to translate her images, simultaneously seeking to make the structure visible and physically felt while transforming the image into a physical object.
Carol Eckert (American, born 1945)
Beware of Cranes
2010
Coiled cotton over wire
Neusteter Textile Collection: Museum purchase with funds from Salon du Musée
2011.270
Using a technique that is normally associated with basketry, Eckert creates an animated menagerie. The detailed coiled birds and animals represent fables and stories that unfold in compositions combining the intricacy of an illuminated manuscript with the immediacy of a pop-up book.
Carol Shinn (American, born 1948)
Chimney Rock
2010
Freestyle machine embroidery, cotton and polyester thread on cotton-polyester fabric
Neusteter Textile Collection: Neusteter Institute Fund, by exchange
2010.440
Shinn has developed freestyle machine embroidery into a painterly art form. Layering different colors of stitches to impart depth and detail, she likens her process to drawing by moving paper under a stationary pencil. Although her work begins with taking photographs from which she forms her composition—whether a close up or a panorama—she delves beyond the appearance of her subjects to elicit their very essence. Chimney Rock captures the sweeping vista visible from a hike to this monument on Ghost Ranch, near Abiquiu, New Mexico.