NEW YORK (AP) — Weaver and designer Dorothy Liebes helped define the look and feel of 20th century luxury, from first-class airline seats to movie backdrops, hotel suites to bathing suits, metallic wallpaper to car upholstery.
She was a name, but unlike so many of the leading architects and designers with whom she worked, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Dreyfuss and Donald Desky, her fame has dimmed since her death in 1972.
An eye-popping exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum takes a giant step toward changing that, revealing the breadth and impact of Liebes’ work through dozens of textiles, fashion pieces, furniture, documents and photos.
“A Dark, a Light, a Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes,” which organizers say is the first exhibit devoted solely to her in over 50 years, opened in July and runs through Feb. 4, 2024. The title is taken from a Liebes rule for designing textiles, which produced vibrant results, particularly when viewed from today’s tendency toward neutrals and muted shades.
Liebes collaborated not just with architects and designers but with major brands like Lurex and DuPont.
“She had a sense early on of the importance of textiles in interior design. She also knew how to read a blueprint, and she had a very analytical perspective. In a different decade, she might have become an architect,” says Winton.
In addition to her design expertise, Liebes could communicate it. She frequently appeared on television and in magazines, and mentored young weavers and designers in her studios in California and, later, New York.
`WHAMEROO’ COLOR AND GLITTER
Among highlights of the show are the brave — and bright — blue and green color combination in the first-class observation lounge of the ocean liner S.S. United States. There are the brilliant reds and blues of the first-class seating on American Airlines flagship 747; the glamorous textile backdrops of the 1947 film “Eastside, Westside”; and the dazzling upholstery of the 1957 Chrysler Plymouth Fury.
There also are Liebes’ collaborations with fashion designers Clare Potter and Bonnie Cashin, revealing the frequent interplay between fashion and interior design.
