View of fabric entitled, "Stop & Go" designed by Ruth Adler Schnee. This piece was part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. "Schnee activates her textile designs with organic and geometric forms that appear to undulate and interact with each other. Her work, which resonates with the simple geometric patterns created by postwar Scandinavian designers and the biomorphic shapes of abstract expressionist painting, won awards from the Museum of Modern Art and the American Institute of Decorators."--Ellen M. Dodington from Cranbrook Art Museum: 100 Treasures. Printed on placard: Stop & Go, for V.O.A. Associates, Chicago, undated. Manufactured by Edward Fields, Chicago and New York City, wool. Collection of Ruth Adler Schnee.
View of fabric entitled, "Mood Swing" designed by Ruth Adler Schnee. This piece was part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. "Schnee activates her textile designs with organic and geometric forms that appear to undulate and interact with each other. Her work, which resonates with the simple geometric patterns created by postwar Scandinavian designers and the biomorphic shapes of abstract expressionist painting, won awards from the Museum of Modern Art and the American Institute of Decorators."--Ellen M. Dodington from Cranbrook Art Museum: 100 Treasures. Printed on placard: Mood Swing, 1992. Manufactured by Edward Fields, Chicago and New York City. Wool. Collection of Ruth Adler Schnee.
View of fabric entitled, "Reinterpretation of Strings and Things" designed by Ruth Adler Schnee. This piece was part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. "Schnee activates her textile designs with organic and geometric forms that appear to undulate and interact with each other. Her work, which resonates with the simple geometric patterns created by postwar Scandinavian designers and the biomorphic shapes of abstract expressionist painting, won awards from the Museum of Modern Art and the American Institute of Decorators."--Ellen M. Dodington from Cranbrook Art Museum: 100 Treasures. Printed on placard: ...originally designed 1954, circa 1996. Manufactured by Anzea Textiles, Fort Worth, Texas, ‘Baubles.’
View of hanging fabrics designed by Ruth Adler Schnee in an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. These fabrics using some of her older designs were created in the 1990's as interest in Schnee's work was revitalized. “Adler Schnee’s vintage textile patterns of the 1940s and the 1950s demonstrate a strong sense of form, color, and their interplay on a broad range of fabrics. Intended primarily for use as draperies, the graphic quality of her designs is enlivened further by the interaction of light and movement,”—Educator’s guide based on Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living.
View of model "room" setup to exhibit many of the textiles designed by Ruth Adler Schnee in the 1940's and 1950's, with three wire chairs around a small table. This room is part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. Printed on placard: Adler Schnee’s vintage textile patterns of the 1940’s and the 1950’s demonstrate a strong sense of form, color, and their interplay on a broad range of fabrics. Intended primarily for use as draperies, the graphic quality of her designs is enlivened further by the interaction of light and movement.
View of model "room" setup to exhibit many of the textiles designed by Ruth Adler Schnee in the 1940's and 1950's, with three wire chairs around a small table. This room is part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. Printed on placard: Adler Schnee’s vintage textile patterns of the 1940’s and the 1950’s demonstrate a strong sense of form, color, and their interplay on a broad range of fabrics. Intended primarily for use as draperies, the graphic quality of her designs is enlivened further by the interaction of light and movement.
View of fabric entitled, "Plaid" designed by Ruth Adler Schnee. This piece was part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. "Schnee activates her textile designs with organic and geometric forms that appear to undulate and interact with each other. Her work, which resonates with the simple geometric patterns created by postwar Scandinavian designers and the biomorphic shapes of abstract expressionist painting, won awards from the Museum of Modern Art and the American Institute of Decorators."--Ellen M. Dodington from Cranbrook Art Museum: 100 Treasures.
View of fabric entitled, "Construction" designed by Ruth Adler Schnee. This piece was part of an exhibition entitled, This piece was part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. “Adler Schnee’s vintage textile patterns of the 1940s and the 1950s demonstrate a strong sense of form, color, and their interplay on a broad range of fabrics. Intended primarily for use as draperies, the graphic quality of her designs is enlivened further by the interaction of light and movement,”—Educator’s guide based on Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living.
View of fabric entitled, "Stretch a Point" designed by Ruth Adler Schnee. This piece was part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. "Trained as an interior architect, Ruth Adler Schnee began her pioneering foray into textile design with an entry into the Chicago Tribune's "Better Rooms for Better Living" interior design competition. Unable to locate suitable fabrics, she designed her own and this ad hoc textile she designed drew attention. She promptly taught herself to screen print and began to sell her own designs,"--The Henry Ford website.
Elevations for Chicago Tribune “Betters Homes for Better Living” competition
Publisher
Lawrence Technological University
Date Created
September 21, 2020
Rights Holder
Lawrence Technological University
Creator
Schnee, Ruth Adler, 1923-
Cranbrook Museum of Art
Creator2
Aluzzo, Adrienne (photograph)
Creator Nationality
American
Work Type
visual works
Date
1946
Work Location
Michigan (state)
Bloomfield Hills (inhabited place)
Style/Period
Modern (style or period)
Subject
elevations (orthographic projections)
Description
View of elevation drawings by Ruth Adler Schnee for the Chicago Tribune's "Better Homes for Better Living" competition in 1946. This piece was part of an exhibition entitled, "Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living," held at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI, December 14, 2019 - March 15, 2020. Printed on placard: In her winning design for the Chicago Tribune’s 1947 “Better Rooms for Better Living” competition, Ruth conjures the satisfying precision of high modernism’s glass and steel, with warm and inviting attention to the needs of home’s imaginary residents. Glass is used for its smoothness, clarity, and ability to conduct light and color as much as its ability to open the space into the landscape.