Follow a subject / an authored looking sequence
A flower becomes structure. What does a plant do to a surface?
Follow a plant through a cyanotype, a woven fabric and a furnishing textile. Look at stems, intervals and repeated shapes before assuming a shared historical source.
01 / 1851–54
Spiraea aruncus (Tyrol) Read the pale plant against its blue ground. Fine branching edges carry the image; the cyanotype preserves a silhouette rather than the plant’s original colour.
Full maker attribution Anna Atkins (British, 1799–1871)
Institutional record ↗ Read the catalogue record → Full image & source ↗ Spiraea aruncus (Tyrol) 1851–54 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art Institution record ↗ Spiraea aruncus (Tyrol)
Maker Anna Atkins (British, 1799–1871)
Date 1851–54
Collection The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Accession 2004.172
Credit Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2004 Complete source image, unmarked.
Open institutional record ↗ 02 / 1900
Mohnköpfe (Poppyheads) (Dress or Furnishing Fabric) Find the intervals between the poppyheads. Ask whether you notice the individual flower or the field of repetition first.
Full maker attribution Designed by Koloman Moser (Austrian, 1868–1918) Produced by Johan Backhausen und Söhne (Austrian, founded 1849) Austria, Vienna
Institutional record ↗ Read the catalogue record → Full image & source ↗ Mohnköpfe (Poppyheads) (Dress or Furnishing Fabric) 1900 · The Art Institute of Chicago Institution record ↗ Mohnköpfe (Poppyheads) (Dress or Furnishing Fabric)
Maker Designed by Koloman Moser (Austrian, 1868–1918) Produced by Johan Backhausen und Söhne (Austrian, founded 1849) Austria, Vienna
Date 1900
Collection The Art Institute of Chicago
Accession 1986.963
Credit Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Julian Armstrong, Jr. Complete source image, unmarked.
Open institutional record ↗ 03 / c 1936
Strawberry Thief Follow the curling stems through birds and fruit. Compare this connected field with the isolated silhouette at the beginning.
Full maker attribution William Morris (British, 1834–1896)
Institutional record ↗ Full image & source ↗ Strawberry Thief c 1936 · Cleveland Museum of Art Institution record ↗ Strawberry Thief
Maker William Morris (British, 1834–1896)
Date c 1936
Collection Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession 1937.696
Credit Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm Complete source image, unmarked.
Open institutional record ↗ Try the existing motif passage → The sequence is an editorial comparison. Specific historical claims remain with their source-checked investigations.