The image is © Jack Lenor Larsen.
Object Timeline
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1969 |
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1979 |
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2016 |
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2024 |
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Hanging, ca. 1974
This is a Hanging. It was designed by Jack Lenor Larsen and made for Sears Bank and Trust Company. It is dated ca. 1974 and we acquired it in 2016. Its medium is silk and its technique is quilted, block embroidery. It is a part of the Textiles department.
The Sears Tower in Chicago (today known as the Willis Tower), designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, was completed in 1972. At the time it was the tallest building in the world, and retained that title for twenty-five years. Built as the headquarters of Sears Roebuck & Company, its ground floor housed the Sears Bank. The newly completed building boasted 55,000 square foot open floorplans; on the ground floor, this was combined with 18-foot ceilings and marble floors, and the acoustics were unbearable. In 1973, Jack Lenor Larsen was commissioned to create a public art installation that would also improve the acoustic profile of the space.
Larsen designed twenty-eight quilted silk hangings which were suspended over the tellers’ counters in the space. A simple grid pattern with richly modulated colors reflected the International Style architecture of the building.
This object was
donated by
Jack Lenor Larsen.
It is credited Gift of Jack Lenor Larsen.
Its dimensions are
H x W: 235.6 × 348 cm (7 ft. 8 3/4 in. × 11 ft. 5 in.)
Cite this object as
Hanging, ca. 1974; Designed by Jack Lenor Larsen (American, b. 1927); Made for Sears Bank and Trust Company; silk; H x W: 235.6 × 348 cm (7 ft. 8 3/4 in. × 11 ft. 5 in.); Gift of Jack Lenor Larsen; 2016-45-1
