Art Uncovered: Visionary Textile Scholars and Their Archives
Through April 5, 2025
Groundbreaking research by 20th-century textile scholars sheds light on the history of The Textile Museum Collection. This exhibition presents a global selection of textiles alongside rarely seen letters, field notes, photos and video from the Arthur D. Jenkins Library’s archives that reveal hidden stories behind these artworks, as well as the life stories of scholars who shaped the field of textile studies.
About the Exhibition
The museum’s Arthur D. Jenkins Library holds archival materials from some of the leading textile scholars of the 20th century, including museum founder George Hewitt Myers; curators Irene Emery and Mattiebelle Gittinger; and textile scholars Charles Grant Ellis and Sarah Sherrill. Art Uncovered: Visionary Textile Scholars and Their Archives puts material from six different archives in conversation with artworks from The Textile Museum Collection. Archival letters, field notes, photographs and videos reveal the hidden stories behind these textiles, providing important background, context and provenance.
Visitors will learn how the museum traded pre-Columbian gold for a Caucasian carpet and discover the symbolism behind a wedding garment as shared by Indonesians in interviews with Mattiebelle Gittinger. Other highlights include a stunning Safavid velvet that George Hewitt Myers purchased for The Textile Museum Collection in 1938 and letters that reveal his turbulent personal relationship with the dealer.
The exhibition also presents never-before-seen photos from Earthwatch Ecuador, a project documenting traditional textile practices and dress of Indigenous Ecuadorians. Examples of traditional clothing collected during the project, including “alpargatas” sandals and a wide-brimmed hat, help bring the photographs to life.
Acknowledgements
Support for preserving scholarly archives in the Arthur D. Jenkins Library is provided by Jeffrey P. Cunard and Mariko Ikehara, Alastair and Kathy Dunn, the Markarian Foundation, and The Textile Museum Docents.
Hat, Ecuador, 20th century. The Textile Museum Collection 1989.22.11. Latin American Research Fund. Earthwatch Ecuador archive.
Textile fragment, Iran, mid-16th century. The Textile Museum Collection 3.219. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1938.
George Hewitt Myers with his wife Louise Stoddard Chase, three daughters and family dog in the 1920s.
Bakhtiari men with a saddlebag loaded on a mule, Iran, 1977. Photo by Sarah B. Sherrill.
Saddlebag, Iran, late 19th/early 20th century. The Textile Museum Collection 2017.16.31. Gift of Sarah B. Sherrill.