Fabric Sample from Marshall Field & Co. Collection
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1915
name: label: retailer
content: Marshall Field and Company
label: student's designed
content: Chicago School of Art
label: maker
content: Marshall Field & Co.
label: designer
content: Chicago School of Art
notes: label: Description
content: At the turn of the twentieth century, the American textile industry was the most technologically advanced in the world. However, it was still dependent on Europe, especially France, for art and design. World War I cut off communication with the industry in Europe, and American manufacturers were forced to turn to American artists for design. The industry held contests, and sent designers and art students into museums to study paintings and objects for inspiration.
label: Description
content: Students at the Chicago School of Art designed these fabrics in 1915. They were produced and sold by Marshall Field & Co. of Chicago and exhibited by the National Museum in 1916. The school (first known as the Chicago School of Applied and Normal Art) was founded by Emma Marion Church in 1908, the same year she published her book, <i>The New Basis of Art Education.</i> Ms. Church was a graduate of Pratt Institute, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and served a term as president of the Western Drawing and Manual Training Association from 1912 to 1913. A member of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Art Institue, she was the first woman member of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. She died in Woodstock, Vermont in 1952.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Americans
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: Art
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content: Textiles
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Marshall Field & Co.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T03364.000
label: catalog number
content: T03364.000
label: accession number
content: 59938
objectType: label: Object Name
content: fabric sample
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silk (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 in x 31 in; 91.44 cm x 78.74 cm