Line & Thread: Prints and Textiles from the 1600s to the Present

Printmaking owes much to textiles. Following the lead of fabric manufacturers who first used woodblocks to stamp patterns on cloth, 15th-century printmakers had the idea of impressing printing blocks (or plates) on paper to create repeatable images. Conversely, prints have long influenced the design and production of textiles. This exhibition, which starts with a section of historical examples that illustrate overlaps between prints and textiles, examines how modern and contemporary artists continue to think about the two media in combination.

Often regarded as the province of women and other marginalized groups, working with fabrics has long been relegated to the lesser realms of “craft” and “decoration.” Not surprisingly, a large number of the printed works on view were produced by or for them. Working at the intersection of prints and textiles, the 31 modern and contemporary printmakers shown here expose a way of thinking about the conjunction of the two media that favors both experimentation and greater inclusivity.

This exhibition is organized by The New York Public Library and curated by Madeleine Viljoen, Curator of Prints and the Spencer Collection.

Contemporary Artists on View

Derrick Adams, Graham Baldwin, Sanford Biggers, Chakaia Booker, Sarah Charlesworth, Raffaella della Olga, Tara Donovan, Sonia Gomes, Ann Hamilton, Valerie Hammond, Julia Jacquette, Ellen Lesperance, Angela Lorenz, Delita Martin, Dindga McCannon, Steve McDonald, Klea McKenna, Jonathan Monk, Loretta Pettway, Faith Ringgold, Alison Saar, Analia Saban, Dana Smith, Kiki Smith, Jacquelyn Strycker, Martha Tuttle. 

Access the exhibition's large print labels.

Line & Thread: Prints and Textiles from the 1600s to the Present

Large-type labels are also available at the information desk in the McGraw Rotunda on the third floor of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

Established in 1987 thanks to a gift from the Wallach family, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs unites what had formerly been three separate departments under a single banner. Divisional holdings comprise works of art as well as reference materials on painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography and the history of architecture from prehistoric times to the present. The Wallach Division also serves as the access point to the Spencer Collection of fine bindings and illustrated books. Together, these collections include more than one million works of art in various mediums and formats, complemented by nearly 700,000 monographs and periodicals. The quality, depth and scope of these holdings have earned the Wallach Division an international reputation among a broad variety of scholars and lovers of art.

I am deeply grateful to Brent Reidy, Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries, and Franses Rodriguez, Deputy Director of the Research Libraries, for their support of the exhibition. I cannot thank my colleagues in the Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs enough not only for helping me realize the exhibition but also for being such wonderful and supportive collaborators, especially Clare Bell, Deirdre Donohue, Elizabeth Cronin, Maggie Mustard, Vincenzo Rutigliano, Margaret Glover, Alvaro Lazo, Rebecca Szantyr, Theodore Walther, David Lowe, Zulay Chang, and Sergio Morales. In Exhibitions, I am deeply grateful to Becky Laughner, Amanda Raquel Dorval, Carl Auge, Tereza Chanaki, Natalie Ortiz, Ryan Douglass, Jake Hamill, Jermaine Neal, Christopher Alzapiedi, Henry Ballate who made the difficult work of mounting the show look both elegant and effortless. I thank Emily Muller, Addison Yu, Mary Oey, and Emma Guerard in Conservation, who not only made sure the works were appropriately conserved but also implemented thoughtful and innovative methods to display them. In Digital Imaging Services, I thank Rebecca Wack, Steven Crossot, Doran Walot, Jeanie Pai, Emily Hoffman, Pete Riesett, Marietta Davis, Jenny Jordan, Gratten Perea, and Rebecca Baldwin for capturing works that were often challenging to shoot on a compressed schedule. I am likewise grateful to Kiowa Hammons, Zoe Waldron, Dina Selfridge, and Molly O’Brien for coordinating the rights to the works and for making them available on Digital Collections. I thank my other colleagues in Special Collections, especially Liz Denlinger, Charles Carter, Carolyn Vega, Julie Carlsen and Michael Inman for sharing their knowledge and amazing collections with me. I extend my thanks to Deborah Straussman, Caryn Gedell and Martin Branch-Shaw in the Registrar’s Office for managing the seamless movement of works in the show. My sincere thanks go to Charles Arrowsmith, Laurie Beckoff, Sandee Roston, Lizzie Tribone and Maya Sariahmed for their role in all aspects of promoting and publicizing the show and Fay Rosenfeld, Aidan Flax-Clark, and Margie Cook for helping to realize programming around the event in the Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities. I thank Ivi Diamantopoulou, Jaffer Kolb and Nashwah Ahmed from New Affiliates; Courtney Gooch, Rory Simms, and Clara Angela from Portrait for developing a beautiful and thoughtful design; and Mim Harrison for thoughtfully editing and correcting exhibition label copy.