Being asked to explain the origins of a swatch of blue printed fabric depicted in a Matisse painting has led to a Metropolitan Museum exhibit opening September 16th and running through January 5, 2014. Amelia Peck, a textile curator at the museum followed the swatch around the world and started thinking of it in a global context. No one has never really ever spent time on the American textile trade; so Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade 1500-1800 looks at fabric design from a global perspective and tells the design backstory of the international textile trade through the centuries.
“It’s amazing how much a small object will tell you about the world.”
Over a hundred pieces including tapestries, wall hangings, upholstery, quilts and clothing are divided into nine galleries. They tell a visually stunning story starting with the Portuguese trade with China and India, to religious fabrics, the Spanish and South American trade, exotic imagery, and Colonial America’s imports.
Fabric-a-holics, this is a must see! If you can’t get to it, you can order the hardcover exhibition catalog from the museum store.
