Wall Hangings
New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1969. 1st Edition. Quarto, publisher's stalped photo-illustrated stiff paper wraps.
Exhibition catalog published on the occasion of MoMA's 1969 wall hangings exhibition, showcasing the work of numerous preeminent fiber and textile artists. Curated by progenitor of American textile exhibitions and publications Mildred Constantine and fabric artist Jack Lenor Larson, the exhibit presented the first international survey of primarily large-scale, abstract woven and off-loom work in fiber to the American public. The show toured 11 cities in 1968, returning in early 1969 to MoMA, where it was installed, at Constantine's insistence, in the museum's first-floor special exhibition galleries rather than in the Department of Architecture and Design. Notably, the groundbreaking exhibition was met with resistance by longtime MoMA director Arthur Drexler. In a 1991 interview with oral historian Sharon Zane, Constantine explained: "when we were doing the exhibition—this goes into the '60s—of what I call 'Wall Hangings,' Arthur was very slow and reluctant to understand what this whole movement was all about, and we would scream at each other, and then he said, 'This is going in over my dead body,' and I said, 'Okay, Arthur, then I'll kill you.'" Illustrated with black-and-white plates of work by artists such as Anni Albers, Lenore Tawney, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Sheila Hicks, Mary Walker Phillips, Ed Rossbach, Kay Sekimachi, and Claire Zeisler, among others. Moderate rubbing to wraps. Very good. Item #6035
$75.00