Curtain panel; Pablo Picasso's "Circus" furnishing fabric for Bloomcraft; ca. 1960: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Pleat top curtain panel of Bloomcraft Picasso “Circus” fabric for Bloomcraft. Screen-printed design of acrobats and circus figuresin pink, orange, black, blue, green, and purple on an off white plain weave ground. Lined. Has some fading and stains. ca. 1960 Used in Rappoport family home. Approx. 46” L x 42” W. One of 27 textile lengths dating from the 1950s into the 1980s, part of a collection owned by Seymour Rappoport, who owned two fabric stores himself, and whose father owned a silk-dyeing firm in Paterson, NJ. in the early 20th century. This collection illustrates the broad range of textiles, from around the world, that were available to and sought by home sewers and small businesses (such as dressmakers, tailors, and theatrical costume shops) that were avid patrons of fabric stores into the 1980s.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1960
• maker: Picasso, Pablo Ruiz
• maker: Bloomcraft, Inc.
• Object Name: textile length
• Object Name: curtain panel
• Physical Description: cotton (overall material)
• Physical Description: plain weave; screen-printed (overall production method/technique)
• Measurements: overall: 46 in x 42 in; 116.84 cm x 106.68 cm
• place made: United States
• ID Number: 2016.0213.16
• accession number: 2016.0213
• catalog number: 2016.0213.16
• Credit Line: Gift of Marjorie and Seymour Rappoport
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.