Textiles: Sophie Taeuber and Lucie Welti

The pillow cover provides an ideal canvas for exploring the careful balance between shapes and colors. Sophie Taeuber (1889–1943) treated it as a picture support in its own right, juxtaposing monochrome rectangles and squares with abstract flowers and flightless birds as figural elements. Divided into five bands, her embroidery unfolds almost kinetic qualities against the grid of the woven ground. Her student Lucie Welti (1895–1988) used cross-stitch to render a picturesque cityscape in Art Deco style, featuring striking brightly lit buildings and a steamer sailing into port as a metaphor for wanderlust.