An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00254

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21660

In 1915 the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) embarked upon a mission to energize the American textile industry. Curators sought to innovate a distinctly “American” design idiom drawing on a more universal “primitive” language. Ethnographic objects were included in study rooms; designers gained access to storage rooms; and museum artifacts were loaned to design houses and department stores. In order to attract designers and reluctant manufacturers, who quickly responded, collections were supplemented with specimens including fur garments from Siberia, Persian costumes, and Javanese textiles. This book positions the project at the AMNH in the broader narrative of early 20th-century design education in New York, which includes the roles of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Newark Museum.

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Print publication date October 2013 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780300199437

EISBN 9780300264562

Illustrations 111

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

WorldCat

Google Books

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List of illustrations

Dr. Charles W. Mead
Clark Wissler in the Plains Indians storage room, American Museum of Natural History
M. D. C. Crawford with Ilonka Karasz
Herbert J. Spinden
Arthur Wesley Dow Summer School at Emerson House in Ipswich, Massachusetts
Design for printed cotton based on hieroglyphs from the Yucatan
Design suggestion from Northern Colombian clay cylinder print
Miss Sargent's art class drawing designs from Peruvian textiles, Peru Hall
Peruvian printing rollers, American Museum of Natural History
Loom, Amazon, pottery in the background, American Museum of Natural History
Pottery decorations based on Ojibwa beadwork
Matchbox featuring Hopi motifs and pepper shaker with Akimel O'odham (Pima) motifs
Conventionalized fish designs
Design featuring conventionalized Peruvian bird and fish motifs
Elements of Arapaho beaded designs from examples in the American Museum of Natural History
Native American fretwork
Aztec water motif
Anthropology collection objects presented at Clark Wissler's lecture Primitive Textile Arts
Tehuelche cow hide, decorated, detail
Scarf
Illustration of the proper adaptation of indigenous motifs
Design based on objects from the Amur River (top); design based on Mexican motif for sand and water (middle); and design based on Aztec shield motif (bottom)
Textile design based on Tohoro O’odham (Papago) and Akimel O’odham (Pima) pottery
Design for silk based on Peruvian motifs
Designs based on a Titicaca pot (top); Native American basketry (middle); design inspired by Guatemalan belts and girdles (bottom)
Design based on a “Peruvian cylinder” print
Model in Sioux dress with beaded yoke
Ilonka Karasz in Reindeer Tungus (Evenk, Siberian) hide, fur, and sinew coat
Model in West African Hausa embroidered cotton agbada or boubou robe
Model in Ainu bark fiber robe
Mariska Karasz in Korean silk garment
Inspired by Indian Exhibit
Dress Up Bureau advertisement
Dress Up Bureau advertisement
Ruth Reeves in Native American dress
Harriet Meserole in Koryak (Kamenskoye, Siberian) hide, fur, cloth, sinew, and yarn coat
Ilonka Karasz with a Nuxalk (Bella Coola) mask, wearing a modern garment with a textile of her own design
Interior view of the Amy Mali Hicks Studio at 158 West 11 Street
Greenwich Village Art in Bonwit Teller Costumes
Modern Maya Maid presentation at the John Wanamaker department store
Illustrations of garments for Edward L. Mayer and John Wanamaker
Illustrations of garments by Jessie Franklin Turner for Bonwit Teller & Co. and Edward L. Mayer
Tea gown and negligees
Women’s Wear posters, illustrations, and books, installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
J. A. Migel, Inc. jacquard loom and non-Western handlooms, installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
H. R. Mallinson & Co. silks and printing blocks, installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Paracas mantle with mythical figures with feline and bird features, detail
Batik-inspired block-printed silk, on sheer Indestructible Voile, detail
Marshall Field & Company drapery fabrics, installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Design based on Peruvian sources
Eskimo (Carabou, Inuit) and Koryak (Siberian) garments, installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Cheyenne, Sioux, and Blackfoot Indian garments, installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Taupe silk charmeuse tea gown with red, blue, and yellow embroidery inspired by motifs from Bukhara (left) and a tea gown of black velvet with gold decoration based on ancient Coptic designs (right)
Installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Blackfoot dress (on model) and modern counterpart by Harry Collins
Installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Suit in brown cloth based on a Bagobo Philippine abacá cloth jacket
Blue chiffon velvet evening wrap with squirrel fur trim and beaded ornament based on a Koryak fur coat
Installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Batik dress inspired by South Sea Island Art
Modern American batiks, installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Sunset Fan-Ta-Si silk dress with blue duvetyn appliqué based on Nanai fish-skin coat
Off-white crepe with red embroidery inspired by a huipil from Guatemala
White crepe dress embroidered with Guatemalan motifs in yellow, navy, green, and red (left) and navy embroidered dress of blue and rose linen with Philippine motifs (right)
Poncho with animal figures and geometric designs, detail
Partial installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Embroideries, installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Silks, Installation view, Exhibition of Industrial Art
Cover for French Vogue
Illustration for Design Motifs Inspired by the Arts of the American Indians
Double-sided man’s tunic with tocapu
Drawing for Blackfoot Sun Dance for the American Indian series
Zuni print for the American Indian series
Pajamas, worn by Imogene Wilson
Navajo design from Mexixe series
Mexican Hummingbird design from Mexixe series
Kortez design from Mexixe series
Rattlesnake Symbol design from Mexixe series
Principles of Design
Native American fretwork
Bottle-neck basket
Peruvian Art: A Help for Students of Design
Elements of Arapaho beaded designs from examples in the American Museum of Natural History
Costumes of the Plains Indians
Decorative Value of American Indian Art
Creative Textile Art and the American Museum
Drawing for textile design, detail
Hand block-printed sample
Hand block-printed fragment
Mandarin Crepe sample with manufacturer's tag
Roller stamp
Stamps
Loop stick loom for weaving colored strips
Gourd rattle
Huipil
Reproductions of six slides, Aztec snake and flower motifs
Sketchbook featuring Indigenous American bird motif
Museum Documents and Modern Costume
Textile fragment
Woman’s two-hide dress
Decorated fish-skin coat
Woman's dancing coat
Evening dress
Maya design from the Americana Prints series
Inca design from the Americana Prints series
Woman's dress
Blackfoot Sun Dance print
Shoshoni bag
Shoshoni Tribe samples from the American Indian series with manufacturer’s tag
Drawing for Zuni Tribe

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Contents

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

Contents

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21661

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

Free

Director’s Foreword

Susan Weber

The twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Bard Graduate Center is the appropriate occasion to highlight achievements by former students...

Author

Susan Weber

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21662

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

Free

Foreword

Ivan Gaskell

One fitting reason that this project should celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Bard Graduate Center is that it epitomizes the expansion of fields of scholarship within the BGC since its inception...

Author

Ivan Gaskell

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21663

Free

Author’s Acknowledgments

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

~An American Style is the product of the dedication of and collaboration among many talented members of the Bard Graduate Center (BGC) community. I am deeply indebted to the BGC’s founder and director, Susan Weber, for her enthusiasm and commitment to this project from the outset. This exhibition would not have come to realization without the foresight of...

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21664

“A New American Decorative Art”: The American Museum of Natural History and the Pursuit of a National Design Identity, 1915–1928

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

A note on terminology is necessary. In the primary source material, namely departmental correspondence and articles written by Dow, Crawford, and the AMNH curators (for both popular and scholarly audiences), terms such as “primitive,” “native,” “aboriginal,” and “indigenous” were used interchangeably,...

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Related print edition pages: pp.12-23

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00254.001

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21665

Chapter subject tags:Natural history collectionsIndigenous artTextile industry--United StatesMuseum exhibits

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PART I
World War I, Design Education, and the Museum

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

Beginning in 1915, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Department of Anthropology took deliberate steps to expose American designers to the museum’s vast and growing ethnographic collections as part of its efforts to innovate a national...

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Related print edition pages: pp.24-45

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00254.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21666

Chapter subject tags:World War, 1914-1918Textile designNatural history collectionsDesign--Study and teachingArt, Modern--Indigenous influences

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PART II
Fashion Designers and Global Artifacts

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

In April 1917 Germany resumed submarine warfare in the Atlantic, prompting the United States to abandon the provincialism that had defined the country’s foreign policy since the nineteenth century...

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Related print edition pages: pp.54-63

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00254.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21667

Chapter subject tags:Textile designNatural history collectionsFashion designClothing and dress--United StatesArt, Modern--Indigenous influences

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PART III
Exhibition of Industrial Art in Textiles and Costumes, 1919

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

The Exhibition of Industrial Art in Textiles and Costumes (1919) was the culmination of the museum’s efforts to inspire textile and fashion designers through its ethnographic collections...

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Related print edition pages: pp.72-87

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00254.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21668

Chapter subject tags:Museum exhibitsClothing and dress--United StatesIndustrial design--United StatesArt criticismArt, Modern--Indigenous influences

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PART IV
Abandoned Plans and Shifting Priorities

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

The Exhibition of Industrial Art demonstrated the dynamic potentiality of museum-industry collaborations, and its progenitors were anxious to capitalize on its success...

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Related print edition pages: pp.88-96

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00254.005

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21669

Chapter subject tags:Natural history museumsDesign--Study and teachingTextile designFashion designArt, Modern--Indigenous influences

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An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

Selected Biographies

Ann Marguerite Tartsinis and Alison Kowalski and Sophia Lufkin

Selected Biographies

Author

Ann Marguerite Tartsinis and Alison Kowalski and Sophia Lufkin

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21670

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Checklist of the Exhibition

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

Checklist of the Exhibition

Author

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21671

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