Textiles

2002.381 Faith Ringgold Bessies Blues — Faith Ringgold. *Bessie’s Blues from the series American Collection Number 5*, 1997. Robert Allerton Endowment.

The Department of Textile’s collection consists of more than 13,500 objects ranging in date from 300 BC to the present. It’s a collection with a global reach, including printed furnishing and dress fabrics, European tapestries and vestments, Turkish velvets, Greek embroideries, pre-Columbian textiles from many early Andean cultures, a wide range of Asian textiles, notably Japanese kimonos and fukusa from the 18th to 20th centuries, and an array of works from modern and contemporary artists such as Henri Matisse, Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Roberto Burle Marx, and Rahul Jain. We continue to build the collection through carefully selected and considered gifts and purchases.