Lawrence Anton Maix was a successful textile producer in the 1950s and 1960s as well as an early American proponent of modernist upholstery and interior furnishing fabrics. He was initially employed by Hans Knoll when Knoll first began his furniture company. During his decade tenure at Knoll, Maix became friends with designers such as Serge Chermayeff, Jens Risom, and George Nelson—some of whom were enlisted to produce textiles for Maix after he started his independent business in 1948. In 1949, Maix began to produce textiles under his own name. It was at this point, that he employed Paul Rand and other successful designers, like Alvin Lustig and Chermayeff, to produce a new line of designs called the Campagna collection. The textile proposed for acquisition, Rand’s Abacus, is one of the designs from this collection. It is a screenprinted textile on plain weave in black, blue, and green on a natural linen ground. Its heavy horizontal stripes and narrower vertical stripes with irregularly-spaced ovals evoke the form of an abacus. The design was featured in a number of magazines and was distinguished with the MoMA Good Design award in 1950. Rand first used this design in 1946 on the cover of his book, Thoughts on Design. The museum already possesses a smaller sample of this particular fabric in another colorway. The three yard length that is being offered is extremely rare and comes from Maix’s widow. It is in excellent condition and would be a remarkable acquisition.