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Date and location: Jul 7 - Feb 4, 2024, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New york
American weaver and designer Dorothy Liebes (1897–1972) was one of the most influential designers of the 20th c. Her monographic exhibition stands out in New York at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: “A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes” (Jul 7 - Feb 4, 2024).
From the 30s to the 60s, Liebes’ textiles’ taste for colors and textures shaped American style from interiors to fashion and film, pioneering the role of the textile designer as a partner to industry.
By acutely combining handwoven and power-loomed fabrics, Liebes committed to making her designs accessible at a wide range of price points, while conceiving dramatic interior design projects.
Often overshadowed by the work of her male colleagues, Liebes’ work finds a new voice in the show, which focuses on some of her major interior projects, such as the Persian Room at the Plaza Hotel (1950).
Liebes collaborated with the most prominent architects and designers of her time, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Dreyfuss and Donald Deskey, whose 1938 Armchair series was upholstered with Liebes' weaving
