Cleveland Museum of Art

The Family (In Memory of a Summer in the White Mountains)

Marguerite Zorach

Date

1917

Medium

plain weave silk; wool embroidery

Culture

America

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Marguerite Zorach conceived her large, complex embroideries as major artistic statements at a time when the medium was routinely considered “craft,” as opposed to “fine art.” In doing so, she helped to erase such distinctions. One of her most acclaimed works, this example celebrates humanity in harmony with nature, presenting the artist, her husband (a Cleveland-raised sculptor named William Zorach), and their son amid an evergreen tree and four pairs of animals. Very time consuming to create, Zorach’s embroideries are rare. In 1925, Zorach served as first president of the New York Society of Women Artists, an organization still in existence.

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