Textile panel

One of America’s foremost 20th-century textile designers, Maria Kipp produced hand-woven fabrics for drapery and upholstery. Kipp trained in Munich and became the first woman to attend the State Academy for the Textile Industry. After immigrating in 1924, Kipp’s first major commission came in the late 1930s, when she wove all of the curtains for Los Angeles City Hall and the San Francisco Stock Exchange.
Leading architects and interior designers were drawn to the superb craftsmanship and custom colors of Kipp’s textiles. Although her career unfolded after the closing of the famous Bauhaus art school, the designer consistently incorporated the Bauhaus tradition of geometric abstraction and linear forms.

Sue Canterbury
The Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art
January 2018