She then studied weaving and design, first at Hull House in Chicago and then at Columbia University and the California School of Fine Arts. By selling small handwoven articles, she earned enough money to visit European museums and weavers.
In 1928 she married Leon Liebes, a businessman who sponsored several young artists. He gave his wife studio space in the building that housed his store and encouraged her to experiment. Her first group show was in 1933 at the Decorator's Club in New York City. In 1934 she started Dorothy Liebes Design, Inc., of San Francisco and received her first major commissions from the Ahwahnee Hotel in the Yosemite Valley and the San Francisco Stock Exchange Club.
She was named director of the influential Fine Arts Exhibit of the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair, and began winning awards and having shows in the United States and abroad.
In 1940 she and Leon Liebes divorced. In 1948 she married Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Relman Morin, but she retained the surname of Liebes professionally.
When Liebes began weaving, most weavers were only producing standard cloth, such as twill, plain weaves and damasks of cotton, wool, silk or linen. But Liebes saw weaving as an art and used not only yarn but also strings of beads, strips of bamboo, cellophane, leather, metallic threads, straw and metal rods. She also used unconventional colors, such as lacquer red, chartreuse, fuchsia, tangerine and turquoise. She said, "There are no bad colors, only bad combinations of colors."
She created colorful window shades, rugs, upholstery fabric and draperies, as well as sculptural weavings. Her weaves became the standard complement to modern architecture, and she became known as "the mother of modern weaving." She was commissioned by architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward Durell Stone and Samuel Marx, and she was a design consultant for companies such as DuPont and Dow, assisting in the development of machinery that could replicate the aesthetic irregularities of hand-loomed fabrics.
From whoislog.info and Notable American Women: The Modern Period: a Biographical Dictionary, edited by Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green
 |
| Textile sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Textile sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Textile sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Textile sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Textile sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Window blind sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Window blind sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Window blind sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Window blind sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Window blind sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Window blind sample aaa.si.edu |
 |
| Window blind sample metmuseum.org |
 |
| Kashmir tile for Pomona Tile Manufacturing Company 1stdibs.com |
Google Reader shuts down on July 1, 2013.
Cool. Makes me want to whip out one of those loop looms and try a potholder :)
ReplyDeleteI made many a potholder for my mother with one of those things. :)
DeleteFascinating post. I'm sending the link to my daughter. She recently received her masters degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art where she was a student in their textiles department.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow...you must be so very proud to have a daughter talented enough to receive a degree from the Cranbrook Academy. I'd love to see some of her designs.
DeleteYes, I'm very proud of her. She comes by her talent honestly because her father was an artist. We took her to art shows before she could walk and I hung Andy Warhol pictures up in her room. I knew she was going to be an artist the day I caught her red handed drawing on my walls. She didn't understand why I was upset. She said, "Mommy, don't you like my mural?"
DeleteAwww, how could you get angry about that? Three-year-old Grandson #1 drew a huge letter H on the bathroom wall, and when we scolded him, he said, "But I was writing my name for you. Don't you like it?" We still haven't painted over it. :)
DeleteThat tile is totally funky!
ReplyDeleteAnd the textiles are really unique. I would choose the fourth and fifth if I had the choice.
I love that green and white textile too, and I would love to have blinds like the orange and brown ones.
DeleteReally interesting, Dana.
ReplyDeleteI'm in love with #5.
Isn't that gorgeous? It looks like you and Vintage Coconut and I all share the same taste in textiles.
DeleteThis kind of 'stuff' is so fashionable and cool right now.
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with the work of Mariska Karasz Dana? She produced some amazing embroidery, so different and out there and interesting.
No, I'm not familiar with her work. I'll have to check her out right away.
Delete