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Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction

Upcoming Exhibition

March 17 – July 28, 2024
East Building, Concourse Galleries

Want to appreciate more art and design in your daily life? Just look down. The apparel we wear reflects not only our personal tastes and values but also a profound relationship to modern art. Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction reveals the myriad ways textiles intersect with and influence world-renowned modern artists and movements. 

Woven Histories delves into dynamic moments when social and political issues have activated textile production and artmaking with heightened focus and urgency. Traced chronologically with 160 works made in a range of techniques—from oil painting to weaving, basketry, netting, knotting, and knitting—the exhibition explores the overlap between abstract art, fashion, design, and craft.

Explore Selected Works

Ed Rossbach, Damask Waterfall, 1977, cotton welting cord, commercial fabric, plastic, satin damask, wrapped, LongHouse Reserve. Photo © Charles Benton, Courtesy The Artists’ Institute

Andrea Zittel, ‘White Felted Dress #3’ from A-Z Fiber Form Uniforms, 2002, wool, hand-felted, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by David and Susan Gersh. © Andrea Zittel, Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Organization
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The exhibition is curated by Lynne Cooke, senior curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art.

Other venues
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 17, 2023–January 21, 2024
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, October 25, 2024–March 2, 2025
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Dates to be announced

Sponsors
The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation provided major support for the exhibition. 

Additional funding is also provided by the Director’s Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

Passes
Admission is always free and passes are not required

Banner detail: Ed Rossbach, Damask Waterfall, 1977, cotton welting cord, commercial fabric, plastic, satin damask, wrapped, LongHouse Reserve. Photo © Charles Benton, Courtesy The Artists’ Institute