Textile, Collage

This textile is from the Bauer Print Collection by German designer Wolf Bauer for Knoll Textiles International. The collection was developed as part of a new push for prints under the guidance of Barbara Rodes, the head of textiles for Knoll in Europe and later head of textiles for all of Knoll, after Florence Knoll retired in 1965. Collage could be considered the signature design of this collection, which was introduced in the United States by Knoll Textiles International in 1969. The textile proposed for acquisition has “Collage Designed by Wolf Bauer, 1967 © Knoll International Ltd.” printed in the selvedge, which may indicate that it debuted in Europe in advance of its launch in the United States. The Bauer Print Collection won the New York Industrial Award for Design Excellence in 1970; that same year, Bauer’s textile designs were the subject of a solo exhibition at the design center in Stuttgart. Several of the Bauer designs, including Collage, were silkscreened on cotton velvet by Pausa AG in Germany, a company known for skillful printing. This is one of at least five colorways produced. It is, arguably, the most visually dynamic and evocative of its period—electric orange, yellow, fuchsia, pink, and lime green vibrate against the plush white velveteen ground. Bauer created a collage effect by giving the shapes irregular edges and maintaining a sense of translucency in overlapping inks, so that the design appears to be made from torn bits of tissue paper. The technique relates well to other pieces in the museum’s collection, including Clothes Pins and Ribbons by Alexander Girard, for which we have the original tissue paper collage in addition to the textile in multiple colorways.