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See more objects with the tag carpet design, cubism, musical instruments, Radio City Music Hall.

Object Timeline

1932	Work on this object began.
1987	We acquired this object.
2015	We photographed this object.
2016	We photographed this object.
2017	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Carpet For Radio City Music Hall (USA)

This is a Carpet for Radio City Music Hall. It was designed by Ruth Reeves. It is dated 1932 and we acquired it in 1987. Its medium is wool. It is a part of the Textiles department.

Textile designer Ruth Reeves was one of several artists hired by designer Donald Deskey to help complete the interiors for Radio City Music Hall. Reeves had studied with French painter Fernand Léger in Paris in the early 1920s. The influence of Léger’s cubist style is evident in Reeves’ innovative and acclaimed design for the carpet for the Music Hall’s Grand Foyer and adjoining staircases. Reeves created a collage of abstract representations of musical instruments, laid out in an energetic interwoven grid.

It is credited Gift of Mrs. Robert Blasberg in memory of Robert Blasberg.

Vertically rectangular textile with black background. Occuring throughout are feather-like patterns, each one featuring eight teal-green lines clustered together with small red tips at the end of each line. Each cluster is double-bordered with narrow grey and yellow lines. Each pattern is separated by the black background.

Object ID #907216321
hand block printed on linen.
Lent by The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1926.563.
48.2016.15

Black rectangular rug made out of wool. It has a thick gray border followed by a smaller outline on the inner portion. The corners have an abstract basket weave design also in gray. The rug is showing some wear and may have had a lighter color in the past. The basket-weave pattern is cut in the corners and has a small circular red accent on each of the inner portions of the patterns. At the center of the rug is a floral wreath in an abstract rendition. Its details are in red, yellow, and red-yellow gradients. At the back of the abstract flowers, following the direction of the wreath, is an oblong shape made of the basket-weave design similar to the ones found on the corners.

Object ID #907214275
wool.
Lent by Yale University Art Gallery, John C. Waddell Collection, Gift of John....
65.2016.2

Square drawing in gouache with an overall pattern design of what appear to be stylized, elongated guitars (shaped like stretched out figure-8’s) positioned at different angles. Most of the guitar bodies are cream with orange necks/fret boards and cream tuning pegs. A few have cream bodies and necks (no distinguishable fretboards) with orange tuning pegs. The background and the sound holes are chocolate brown. The ends of the guitar necks bend to their right. Some of the guitars are drawn in loose perspective with a part of one side or a bottom visible. The sides are rendered with simple orange accents which against the cream suggests some kind of shadow. There is a sense of musicality to the layout - the relative brightness (cream color) of the flat sinuous guitar shapes facing different directions comprise the main motif and keep the viewer moving throughout the pattern; the contrasting linearity of the necks and the orange accents create a sense of dynamism, and the sets of tiny tuning pegs (3 on each side of the neck) interspersed throughout the pattern are like delicate trills. The instruments seem cartoonish, with not realistic guitar proportions, however their various sizes, shapes, and positions serve to pleasantly fill the space.

Object ID #18640379
brush and gouache, graphite on paper, lined.
Gift of Donald Cameron.
1992-51-55

Our curators have highlighted 5 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

Drawing, Design for Saks Fifth Avenue Advertising Brochure

Drawing, Design for Saks Fifth Avenue Advertising Brochure
pen and black ink, brush and black, gray wash, graphite on cream illustration....
Gift of Donald Deskey.
1975-11-59

Textile (USA)
cotton.
Gift of the Estate of Ella Ostrowsky.
1976-98-8

Drawing, Design for Carpet: Guitars and Cocktail Glasses for Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY

Drawing, Design for Carpet: Guitars and Cocktail Glasses for Radio City Music...
brush and brown, tan and blue gouache, graphite on cream illustration board,....
Gift of Donald Deskey.
1975-11-43

Its dimensions are

H x W: 93 x 93.5 cm (36 5/8 x 36 13/16 in.)

Cite this object as

Carpet For Radio City Music Hall (USA); Designed by Ruth Reeves (American, 1892–1966); wool; H x W: 93 x 93.5 cm (36 5/8 x 36 13/16 in.); Gift of Mrs. Robert Blasberg in memory of Robert Blasberg; 1987-69-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2DrXH/
Accession Number 1987-69-1
Object ID 18622971