See more objects with the tag flowers, tulips.

Object Timeline

1943

  • Work on this object began.

1997

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2019

2021

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Three Tulips

This is a Drawing. It was designed by E. McKnight Kauffer and made for (as the client) American Silk Mills, Inc.. It is dated 1943 and we acquired it in 1997. Its medium is brush and gouache. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.


In New York Bernard Waldman, founder of the Modern Merchandising Bureau, championed Kauffer’s talent and connected him with new clients. For American Silk Mills, Kauffer created an emotional design of three patriotic tulips wrapped in barbed wire against a backdrop of Holland’s bombed-out buildings. It ran in the New York Times Magazine and was a critical success. From then on, Kauffer and Waldman held a close personal and professional relationship.

This object was donated by Grace Schulman. It is credited Gift of Grace Schulman.

Its dimensions are

45 × 33.6 cm (17 11/16 × 13 1/4 in.)

It is signed

Signed in brush and orange gouache, lower right: E. McKnight Kauffer

Cite this object as

Drawing, Three Tulips; Designed by Edward McKnight Kauffer (American, active England, 1890–1954); Client: American Silk Mills, Inc.; England; brush and gouache; 45 × 33.6 cm (17 11/16 × 13 1/4 in.); Gift of Grace Schulman; 1997-134-14

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18654765/ |title=Drawing, Three Tulips |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>