About This Artwork
Portière1901
Cotton and silk, plain weave with pile warps forming cut solid velvet; appliquéd with silk and cotton, satin damask weave; linen and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped linen, satin weave; cotton and wild silk, plain weaves; embroidered with silk, cotton, linen, and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped linen in chain, cross and overcast chain stitches
203.7 x 121.9 cm (80 1/8 x 48 in.)
Restricted gift of the Antiquarian Society, 1971.680
Textiles
Not on Display
Chicago architect George W. Maher was one of many Americans who embraced the English Arts and Crafts movement, incorporating into his residential designs an emphasis on simplicity, natural forms, and respect for materials. This silk and cotton Portière hung over a doorway in Maher's James A. Patten house in Evanston, Illinois, built in 1901. The highly stylized and linear thistle motif created for this panel and other elements of the Patten house by Maher and designer Louis J. Millet helped achieve the decorative rhythm and unity that Maher believed was essential to the successful design of any residence.
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
The Art Museum, Princeton University, New Jersey, "The Arts and Crafts Movement in America," October 17–December 17, 1972
The Art Institute of Chicago, February 24–April 22, 1973
Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Fine Art
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., June 1–September 10, 1973
The Art Institute of Chicago, "The Antiquarian Society of The Art Institute of Chicago: The First One Hundred Years," April 23–June 19, 1977
The Art Institute of Chicago, Agnes Allerton Gallery, "A Selection of Fabrics from the 1880s–1940s from the Permanent Collection," November 13, 1982–February 15, 1983
The Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, "A Birthday Celebration: 100 Years of Antiquarian Society Textile Collecting 1890–1990," September 11–February 17, 1992
The Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, "Textile Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago's Collection," February 17–May 2, 1993
The Art Instiute of Chicago, "Prairie School: Design Vision for the Midwest," October 14, 1995–January 7, 1996
The Art Institute of Chicago, Regenstein Hall, “Apostles of Beauty: Arts & Crafts from Britain to Chicago,” November 7, 2009 – January 31, 2010
Publication History
Arthur C. David. "The Architecture of Ideas," Architectural Record, April 1904. p. 377 (illus.).
David A. Hanks. "The Arts and Crafts Movement in America: 1876–1916," Apollo, February 1973. p. 183-88 (illus.).
J. Allen. "The Artists and Craftsmen (1876–1916)," Arts and Fun/Book Section, Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1973, Cover (illus.).
The Antiquarian Society of The Art Institute of Chicago, The First One Hundred Years (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1977), p. 210 (Illus.), no. 278.
The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), p. 238.
Christa C. Mayer Thurman. Textiles in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), p. 116 (illus.), pp. 117, 148.
Judith Barter, ed., “Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago” (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago), 2009, p. 173, fig. 21, cat. 88.