'Painted with Silk: The Art of Early American Embroidery' on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Wednesday, December 25, 2024


'Painted with Silk: The Art of Early American Embroidery' on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts
Unidentified member of the Clarke Family, Richmond, Massachusetts, Sacred to the Memory of Isabella Clarke, ca. 1795. Collection of Suzanne and Michael Payne.



DETROIT, MICH.- The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) presents Painted with Silk: The Art of Early American Embroidery, a loan exhibition featuring a large selection of remarkably beautiful and well-preserved samplers and silk-on-silk embroideries produced by American girls and young women in the colonial and early national periods. Comprising 69 embroideries and one painting, Painted with Silk: The Art of Early American Embroidery will be on view from December 13, 2024 through June 15, 2025.

From the early 1700s until about 1830, the education of American girls from well-to-do families emphasized reading, writing, simple arithmetic, and needlework. For these girls, a finely worked embroidery worthy of being framed in their homes served as a kind of diploma. The samplers and silk-on-silk embroideries demonstrated both their mastery of an important practical skill and that they had achieved the self-discipline and refinement expected of the most privileged girls and young women in early American society. Juxtaposing historic embroideries with contemporary ones by the feminist artist Elaine Reichek, Painted with Silk draws attention to cultural assumptions and values related to gender, race, and class.

“Exhibitions at the Detroit Institute of Arts present opportunities to encourage inquiry about ourselves, our history, and our world, and this wonderful presentation is a rare chance to learn more about this important American artform” said DIA Director Salvador Salort-Pons. “The historic and contemporary embroideries displayed in the exhibition will highlight ways in which our values and assumptions are both like and unlike those of earlier Americans.”

Except for one painting and two early English samplers drawn from the DIA’s own collection, all the works in the show were hand-crafted by American school age girls between 1740 and about 1830. Embroidered with fine silk threads on linen, wool, or silk supports, and often framed for display, many of these embroideries became treasured family heirlooms which were passed from generation to generation. Since the early 1900s the most charming and beautiful of them have been sought out by collectors who treasured them as evidence of the skill and values of early American women. Almost all of the embroideries in Painted with Silk are on loan from private collectors eager to share their treasures with the DIA community.

The exhibition is installed in three galleries, beginning with simpler embroideries which were used to teach the alphabet and numbers, and leading to larger and more complex embroideries made with more complex stitches and paint to create more complicated pictures illustrating stories from the Hebrew and Christian Bible or contemporary literature. Many represent home as a place of safety and love. Others emphasize virtues, such as the need to obey and respect parents, teachers and other figures of authority. Some of the largest and most complicated celebrate famous women who sacrificed themselves for the good of their children or husbands.

Alongside the historic works, the exhibition presents a selection of contemporary embroideries by the acclaimed artist Elaine Reichek. Reichek originally trained as a painter but gave up the practice for embroidery - a medium historically associated with women and dismissed as a craft rather than art. Adapting the form of nineteenth-century schoolgirl samplers, Reichek developed a distinctive visual language which she uses to critique culturally dominant assumptions about society, gender, identity, and culture.

“Early American embroideries are fascinating survivors from our nation’s past,” said Kenneth John Myers, the DIA’s Byron and Dorothy Gerson Curator of American Art. “Often very beautiful, they are also inherently fragile. Silk threads can get stained, unravel, break or fade. Many surviving embroideries are in poor condition. But thanks to the generosity of several private collectors, the DIA team has been able to share an unusually large selection of very accomplished embroideries in exceptionally fine condition. And the embroideries by Reichek are fabulous.”










Today's News

December 24, 2024

Asian Bronze in the Rijksmuseum shows heaven on earth

Marvel Comics Library brings Spider-Man's early adventures to life

Crescent City Auction Gallery announces highlights included in Important Estates Auction

Original art unveiled at the Santa María Huiramangaro Temple in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

Exhibition offers a journey though time and biodiversity

The story behind Rodin's 'Study of a dressing gown for Balzac' at the Rodin Museum

The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago presents Isabelle Frances McGuire: Year Zero

Kunsthaus Bregenz presents its 2025 program

The New Objectivity at Kunsthalle Mannheim

Sirius Arts Centre presents 'Alice Rekab: Clann Miotlantach / Mythatlantics '

MCA Chicago opens 'The Living End: Painting and Other Technologies, 1970-2020'

Jugendstil revolution: Exhibition explores Munich's role in the Art Nouveau movement

A journey through time: Flowers as symbols, motifs, and commodities

New York City's Museum of Arts and Design presents Barbie®: A Cultural Icon

421 Arts Campus presents its winter 2025 program

Exhibition reveals the dynamic ways nature communicates through colour

New Field Museum exhibition explores the curious world of cats

Walk&Talk - Bienal de Artes in the Azores announces its first edition

Associazione Culturale Dello Scompiglio presents Nexaris Suite by Agnes Questionmark

'Bruno Zhu: License to Live' on view at Chisenhale Gallery

Kunstmuseum Magdeburg presents Leyla Yenirce: SPLITTER

Joris Van de Moortel's new exhibition on view at Galerie Nathalie Obadia

'Painted with Silk: The Art of Early American Embroidery' on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts

PILAR at the VUB presents 'Nom de Dieu: criticism, blasphemy, satire...?'




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
(52 8110667640)

Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful