Panel (Upholstery Fabric) c. 1902

This anonymous panel of upholstery fabric, of unknown date, now lives at the Art Institute of Chicago. You know, it’s kind of like a painting, just made with different tools—maybe designed on a computer, maybe by hand, or perhaps even block-printed? I see rows of dark green shapes, each cradling a soft yellow form. What are they? Leaves with a dew drop? Or some kind of seed? I wonder what the maker was thinking about as the pattern evolved. Maybe this was a commission? I feel for the designer who had to be so specific! How do you make a repeating pattern feel alive? This designer found a way, with the tiniest shift in each leaf-like shape. Upholstery is just another way to make a painting, a painting that you can sit on! I love the idea of art being both beautiful and useful. Every object is a conversation, and this fabric is part of a long dialogue between form and function.