Landscape in Petit Point by J. Howard Iams

Landscape in Petit Point 1937

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drawing, weaving, textile

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drawing

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weaving

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landscape

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textile

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folk-art

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realism

Dimensions: overall: 48.5 x 65.7 cm (19 1/8 x 25 7/8 in.) Original IAD Object: 24" long; 17" wide

Copyright: National Gallery of Art: CC0 1.0

"Landscape in Petit Point" was stitched by J. Howard Iams, but we don't know when! What I see is a cottage scene, lakeside, crafted from tiny needlepoint stitches in greens, blues, and browns. I can only imagine the labor involved in building this image one stitch at a time. What was it like to sit and patiently fill in each tiny square with color, watching the picture slowly emerge? I imagine the artist feeling a sense of control, carefully defining each element. It's a different way of seeing the world, constructing reality through repetition and detail rather than gesture. The pixelated effect reminds me of early digital art, or even Chuck Close's portraits, where the image is broken down into a grid. Here, the individual stitches create texture and a kind of handmade warmth, a testament to the slow, deliberate act of creation. Iams, Close, and today's painters are all in constant dialogue, each pushing the boundaries of their medium.

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