Roughly square portion cut from larger fabric. The dark green background is densely populated by brightly colored farm animals, human figures and flowers illustrated in a happy, playful, flat manner reminscent of folkart. The general impression is like an appliqued quilt where the elements have been cut from different print fabrics and sewn onto the background. The motifs are contained in a diamond shape, which repeats in all directions. The central figures are a blond 'farmer' in light blue overalls, red shirt and pink boots carrying a lamb and the 'farmers wife' in a long pink dress with a green top, hair covered in pink, grey boots, carrying a yellow flowering plant and a green bucket. Floating around them clockwise in a circular motion, a green cow with white face and pink horns, a white goose, a red rooster with green wings and whte tail feathers,a pink goat with yellow ears and green hooves, a green horse with a pink mane, a yellow cat, a pale blue pig with grey ears and three piglets (2 grey, 1 blue). A second ring of creatures float around the first including: a green partridge, a pink rooster, a green hen with red wings, a female figure in a short red dress, pink shoes and what looks like a chef's hat carrying a long necked blue bird, a white duck, a yellow dog, a green rabit, a pink bird with long tail feathers, and two dogs (1 pink, 1 pale grey) that look like a howling coyote. Interwoven between these elements are a variety of fantasy flowers and stylized leaf shapes. Despite the busyness of the design and humourous, unexpected color choices, the design is unified by one feature common to all the elements - each contains some kind of tiny overall pattern like polka dots, flowers, or stars, so that all seem related. The name of the pattern 'Calico Cow' gives an idea of the quilt material referred to earlier.

See more objects with the tag floral, animals, foliage, colorful, farming.

Object Timeline

1952	Work on this object began.
2017	We acquired this object. We photographed this object. We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Textile, Calico Cow, 1952

This is a Textile. It was designed by Ilonka Karasz 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.

Ilonka Karasz, an important modernist designer and artist with a large international following, was one of the few Associated American Artists with formal training in textile design. She first created Calico Cow for the cover of The New Yorker (August 19, 1944) and later adapted it for submission to Youngstown Kitchens. (1) The kitchen cabinet company selected Karasz’s work and two other designs for the launch of its collection of coordinating fabrics, wallcoverings, and decals. (2)
The July 1953 issue of Living for Young Homemakers featured an illustration of a family choosing between the three designs. (3)
Calico Cow is included in the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art’s traveling exhibition, “Art for Every Home: Associated American Artists, 1934-2000.”
The museum currently holds more than 100 examples of Karasz’s work, including wallcoverings, textiles, and works in metal.
(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): 204.
(2) Ibid., 195.
(3) Ibid., 200.

This object was donated by American Textile History Museum. It is credited American Textile History Museum Collection, gift of Michele Palmer.

Bull Figure
tin-glazed earthenware.
Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
1931-41-22

Sidewall, Tree & Cow
lithograph from linocut.
Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program....
1996-32-2

Greeting Card, Christmas Card with Rooster

Greeting Card, Christmas Card with Rooster
woodblock print on paper, laid down.
1957-26-2-c

Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.

Fragment (France)
cotton.
1955-175-1

Its dimensions are

H x W: 97.2 × 84.5 cm (38 1/4 × 33 1/4 in.)

Cite this object as

Textile, Calico Cow, 1952; Designed by Ilonka Karasz ((American, born Hungary, 1896–1981)); Produced by Associated American Artists (United States); cotton; H x W: 97.2 × 84.5 cm (38 1/4 × 33 1/4 in.); American Textile History Museum Collection, gift of Michele Palmer; 2017-24-7

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Ilonka Karasz, Works from the Collection.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2FYrkp/
Accession Number 2017-24-7
Object ID 1108711609