Textile, woven (Stevensgraph)

Description

This commemorative silk picture was woven on site at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. It is an example of a “Stevengraph,” a type of Jacquard-woven picture named after its inventor, the English weaver Thomas Stevens (1828-1888). Stevengraphs are characterized by their typically rectangular shape – they were often sold as bookmarks – and their use of multiple colors of silk, which give the pictures an almost three-dimensional effect. Stevens died in 1888, but his company, Stevengraph Works, continued to produce Stevengraphs under the operation of his sons, Thomas and Henry. The World’s Columbian Exposition, also called the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, was held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas, and many souvenirs featuring Columbus were sold at the Fair. This picture, titled “Landing of Columbus,” depicts a group of sailors bearing Spanish flags making land in the Americas. On the right-hand side of the picture are two figures, presumably Native Americans, peering out from behind a tree. It is one of a pair of designs Stevengraph Works produced for the Fair, the other of which is titled “Columbus Leaving Spain.” This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.