Object Timeline

1952

  • Work on this object began.

2017

2024

  • You found it!

Textile, Country Auction

This is a Textile. It was designed by Aaron Bohrod and produced by Associated American Artists. It is dated 1952 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is cotton and its technique is printed. It is a part of the Textiles department.

Aaron Bohrod was a social realist and regional painter and longtime artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was an early member of Associated American Artists whose affiliation with the group began in 1939.

Bohrod’s Country Auction was one of eight designs included in the Pioneer Pathways collection released by Riverdale Fabrics in 1952. (1) The imagery includes an array of flea-market finds, including lawn jockeys, barber-shop poles and penny-farthing bicycles. Brown, gold and white antiques—the type Bohrod might have encountered during his own time in the Midwest—appear within cubby-like partitions on a dark green ground.

Country Auction is included in the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art’s traveling exhibition, “Art for Every Home: Associated American Artists, 1934-2000.”

There are currently two examples of Bohrod’s work in the museum’s collection, a textile called Pagan Magic (1995-48-2) and designs within a sample book from the Galleries of Associated American Artists, “Masterpiece Interiors” (1954-22-1-1/116).

(1) Gail Windisch, Sylvan Cole Jr., and Karen J. Herbaugh, Art for Every Home: Associated American Artists, 1934-2000 (Manhattan: Marianna Kistler Beach Museum, Kansas State University, 2016): 191.

This object was donated by American Textile History Museum. It is credited American Textile History Museum Collection.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 197.5 × 118.1 cm (6 ft. 5 3/4 in. × 46 1/2 in.)

Cite this object as

Textile, Country Auction; Designed by Aaron Bohrod (American, 1907–1992); Produced by Associated American Artists (United States); cotton; H x W: 197.5 × 118.1 cm (6 ft. 5 3/4 in. × 46 1/2 in.); American Textile History Museum Collection; 2017-24-8

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108711637/ |title=Textile, Country Auction |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>