Caption: Coat, Romania, 1900. Silk embroidery, leather appliqué, and embossed patterns on sheepskin with silk tassels. Neusteter Textile Collection at the Denver Art Museum: Gift of Frederic H. Douglas, 1949.27. Photography © the Denver Art Museum.
Throughout the Denver Art Museum’s history, textile arts have played a fundamental role in the development of its collecting philosophies and exhibition programs. The first textile entered the museum almost one hundred years ago, and since that time, textile arts have been regular additions to the collection. Among the handful of early patrons, the Douglas Family of Evergreen, Colorado, emerges as the most steadfast donors of textiles. The union of two civic-minded families: Dr. Josepha Williams Douglas (1860–1938)—one of Colorado’s first women physicians—and Canon Charles Winfred Douglas (1867–1944), built upon Josepha’s family homestead, Camp Neosho (now Hiwan Homestead Museum). They fostered in their son, Frederic (Eric) H. Douglas (1897–1956), a deep appreciation for the art and cultures of Indigenous peoples. Eric would eventually become the inaugural curator of Indian Art at the Denver Art Museum in 1929. This exhibition highlights a selection of the family’s donations that demonstrates their celebration of traditional and living cultures and the value of exhibiting them together.
Weaving a Foundation features 60 objects from the museum’s permanent collection, two-thirds of which have never been shown. Though the Douglas family’s commitment to the Native Arts of North America is well documented, this exhibition reveals their interest in diverse world cultures and textile traditions. The eclectic presentation includes textiles from Indigenous traditions across the American Southwest and Mexico, India and Pakistan, and the Indonesian islands of Bali, Java and Sumatra. Douglas’s curatorial approach, supported by his wife and parents, laid the cornerstones for a strong foundation from which the Textile Arts and Fashion Department at the Denver Art Museum continues to build.
Jill D’Alessandro
Director and Curator, Avenir Institute of Textile Arts and Fashion
For more information on this exhibition as well as other Denver Art Museum events and collections, see this link: https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/weaving-foundation
