Apple-blossom textile

Cheney Brothers|Associated Artists

1883–1900 · Silk, printed · The American Wing

This "shadow silk" with an apple-blossom pattern is unusual for Associated Artists in having stripes provide the organizing framework for the composition. Wheeler and her colleagues rarely arranged their floral motifs in such overtly regimented fashion, preferring to compose them into a loosely meandering network and disguise the inherently repetitive nature of the printed pattern. However, this textile, which is probably a late design, is modeled after highly structured eighteenth-century French fabrics both in pattern and in printing technique. Like many other designers, Candace Wheeler (1827-1923) turned away in the 1890s from the exoticism of the two previous decades and returned to historical European styles for inspiration. To make "shadow silks" a special warp-printing technique was employed: the warp (the vertical threads) was preprinted with the pattern beforehand, and when the solid-colored horizontal weft threads were woven in, the designs naturally fell slightly out of alignment.

Artist

Cheney Brothers|Associated Artists

Date

1883–1900

Medium

Silk, printed

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Museum Accession