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1970

  • Work on this object began.

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Textile, Motus

This is a Textile. It was designed by Gaetano Pesce and manufactured by Expansion. It is dated 1970 and we acquired it in 2002. Its medium is cotton and its technique is screen printed on velvet supplementary weft pile (velveteen). It is a part of the Textiles department.

Gaetano Pesce was trained as an architect in Italy, but has also practiced in Paris and currently works in the United States. An extremely successful and influential designer, Pesce has established a reputation as an architect who is opposed to specialization. He has experimented, in his words, in “all fields of creative activity.” His multidisciplinary approach has led him into many areas of industrial design and art. Pesce’s designs for textiles represent one of his forays into another medium and are quite rare. He produced a small collection of furnishing fabrics, wall hangings, and carpets in 1968 for Expansion in Bologna. In 1970, he produced several printed velvets for another Italian company, JSA.
This screen-printed velvet was produced for Collezione Expansion in 1970. The strong graphic design, simple form, and pure colors of this textile relate to Pesce’s Up series of armchairs introduced at the 1969 Milan Furniture Show. The museum has in its collection an example of the Up chair that closely relates to this textile.
The Pesce velvet proposed for acquisition relates well to a small group of printed textile designs from the late 1960s and early 1970s already in the collection, including work by Tzaims Luksus, Jack Lenor Larsen, Sue Palmer, and Gae Aulenti.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Expansion.

This object was donated by The Lake St. Louis Historical Society and Liliane and David M. Stewart Collection. It is credited Gift of the Liliane and David M. Stewart Collection.

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Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.

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Its dimensions are

H x W: 411.5 x 130.8 cm (162 x 51 1/2 in.)

It is inscribed

"Motus" Collezione Expansion-Bologna-Italia-Disegno di Gaetano Pesce (printed in selvedge)

Cite this object as

Textile, Motus; Designed by Gaetano Pesce (Italian, b. 1939); Manufactured by Expansion; Italy; cotton; H x W: 411.5 x 130.8 cm (162 x 51 1/2 in.); Gift of the Liliane and David M. Stewart Collection; 2001-30-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Energizing the Everyday: Gifts From the George R. Kravis II Collection.

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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/18692967/ |title=Textile, Motus |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=27 December 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>