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Object Timeline

1958

  • Work on this object began.

1969

  • We acquired this object.

2012

2015

2024

  • You found it!

Sample, Manhattan

This is a Sample. It was designed by Alexander Hayden Girard and produced by Herman Miller Textiles and manufactured by American Art Textile Printing Company, Inc.. It is dated 1958 and we acquired it in 1969. Its medium is 40% cotton, 15% rayon, 45% mohair and its technique is screen printed with discharged on plain weave. It is a part of the Textiles department.

Alexander Girard produced over three hundred textile designs during his almost thirty-year tenure at Herman Miller, an important American furniture company and promoter of modern design. That Girard was trained as an architect should come as no surprise - like many architects of his generation, he had experienced firsthand the challenge of finding textiles appropriate for a modern interior.

As director of Herman Miller’s Textile Division, Gerard sought to create a fabric collection that would conform to his architectural training, combining pure forms like circles, triangles, and squares in appealing configurations. This piece is composed of white rectangles arranged in grid-like patterns against a black ground, suggesting a nighttime view of the Manhattan skyline. The Museum also houses the design for this textile (1969-165-268), produced as a blueprint like those used by architects and engineers.

This object was donated by Alexander Hayden Girard. It is credited Gift of Alexander H. Girard.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 60 × 60 cm (23 5/8 × 23 5/8 in.)

It has the following markings

Herman Miller Fabrics paper label attached to lower right corner.

Cite this object as

Sample, Manhattan; Designed by Alexander Hayden Girard (American, 1907–1993); Produced by Herman Miller Furniture Company (United States); Manufactured by American Art Textile Printing Company, Inc.; 40% cotton, 15% rayon, 45% mohair; H x W: 60 × 60 cm (23 5/8 × 23 5/8 in.); Gift of Alexander H. Girard; 1969-165-165

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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/18678017/ |title=Sample, Manhattan |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=26 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>