Lissy Funk (Swiss, born Germany, 1909-2005)
Switzerland, Zürich
Wie das Gras (Like the Grass)
INV-2156
Lissy Funk (Swiss, born Germany, 1909-2005)
Switzerland, Zürich1977
Wie das Gras (Like the Grass)
Lissy Funk (Swiss, born Germany, 1909-2005) Switzerland, Zürich →needlework (visual works)textile
Date
1977
Medium
Linen, plain weave; backed with cotton, plain weave; embroidered with silk and linen and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk in stem, satin, long and short, padded satin and variations on buttonhole stitches; French knots; laid work and couching; glass beads
Dimensions
207.3 × 255.3 cm (81 5/8 × 100 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift in part from Rosina Kuhn-Funk and Cyril Kuhn; purchased with funds provided by Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Foundation in memory of Alice Welsh Skilling; The Christa C. Mayer Thurman Textile Endowment; Textile Society; Louise Lutz Endowment; Barbara E. and Richard J. Franke Fund; Nicole Williams Contemporary Textile Fund; Edward M. Cummings Endowment; Margaret W. and John V. Farwell III Endowment; purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Sudler Jr.
The Swiss textile artist Lissy Funk created highly distinctive pieces, usually hangings. While most hangings are made as tapestries—and, indeed, Funk was strongly influenced by this art form—she made hers in needlework, a technique normally confined to small-scale, domestic contexts. Acquired directly from the artist's heirs, Wie das Gras is a major work executed during the last and most exuberant period of her career. It juxtaposes areas of various colors, textures, and types of stitching, which together suggest the topography of a landscape, with a rich array of mysterious letter-like symbols that are unique in the artist's oeuvre.
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