Art Institute of Chicago

Portière

Designed by George Washington Maher (American, 1864–1926)

Date

1901

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

Culture

United States

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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 achieve the decorative rhythm and unity that Maher believed was essential to the successful design of any residence.

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