Portière
Medium
Cotton and silk, plain weave with pile warps forming cut solid velvet; appliquéd with silk and cotton, satin damask weave; linen and gilt-strip-wrapped linen satin weave; cotton and silk plain weaves; embroidered with silk, cotton, linen, and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped linen threads
Dimensions
204.1 × 119 cm (80 3/8 × 46 7/8 in.)
Classification
textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
37097
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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 achi...