Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction

(Los Angeles, CA—August 8, 2023) The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, an exhibition exploring the intersection of abstract art and woven textiles over the past century. The nexus of textiles and abstraction embodies key political, social, economic, and aesthetic issues that have shaped the history of the modern era. Beginning in the first decades of the 20th century, the exhibition presents a diverse range of genres, materials, processes, and technologies, which artists have utilized when probing these issues: painting; basketry; photography and film; woven, knitted and felted cloth; costume; attire; and tapestry. Further, it foregrounds the increasingly important role of textile heritages today as affordances in constructing identity, kinship, and community.

Woven Histories is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in collaboration with LACMA, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The exhibition is curated by Lynne Cooke, Senior Curator of Special Projects in Modern Art, National Gallery of Art. The LACMA presentation is overseen by Rita Gonzalez, the Terri and Michael Smooke Curator and Department Head, Contemporary Art, LACMA.