Michael Olszewski (American, born 1950)
United States
Mourning
INV-2175
Michael Olszewski (American, born 1950)
United States1989
20th Centurytextilefiber art
Date
1989
Medium
Silk, plain weave, pleated; appliquéd with layers of silk, plain weaves, some resist dyed, some printed, some dyed; embroidered with silk; blocked
Dimensions
52.4 × 71.8 × 0.7 cm (20 5/8 × 28 1/4 × 1/4 in.); 74.5 × 94.2 × 5.3 cm (29 5/16 × 37 1/16 × 2 1/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by the Textile Society
Olszewski's textile constructions, for the most part, evoke emotional turnoil resulting from his life, such as the deaths of parents and friends and his long-term struggle with personal identity. The works in this group were made from 1989 to 2012, and there is a remarkable consistency of purpose and focus among them, despite technical adjustments made over time. Mourning, the earliest in the group, acknowledges the toll taken by the declining health of the artist's father, who died a few years after the work was created. In Olszewski's language of symbols, the curved motif evokes an emotional would and the horizontal stripes suggest the lines of the journal kept by the artist.
Also notable
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