With a focus on Britain, Italy, and the United States, Bolts of Color highlights the Museum’s recent acquisitions of post-WWII textiles, all made during the height of the experimental screen printing era of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Featuring works by well-known artists like Rockwell Kent and Lucio Fontana and trailblazing designers like Althea McNish and Joel Robinson, this exhibition considers the surprising role of the textile industry in whetting the public’s appetite for contemporary art.

From the late 1940s textile designers explored abstraction from a number of vantage points. Responding to contemporary art, architecture, and science, painterly interpretations of nature and playful tessellations dominated textile patterns for nearly two decades. In the 1960s huge, graphic designs influenced by Pop and Op Art movements reigned. Throughout, advances in screen printing allowed designers to realize patterned fabrics with an unparalleled depth of color, texture, and precision. Whether hand printed in small studios or mass manufactured, textiles of this era bubble with a creative energy shared by a growing consumer base who embraced bold interiors and fashions.

Bolts of Color is curated by Genevieve Cortinovis, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Associate Curator of Decorative Arts and Design.