id: 109980
accession number: 1928.587
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1928.587
updated: 2025-07-01 21:15:28.433000
Americana Prints: Pegs (No. 668), c. 1927. Charles Buckles Falls (American, 1874–1960), Stehli Silks Corporation (America, Lancaster, PA, and New York, 1840–c. 1955). Silk: plain weave, roller printed; overall: 48.9 x 52.1 cm (19 1/4 x 20 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Stehli Silks Corporation, 1928.587
title: Pegs (No. 668)
title in original language:
series: Americana Prints
series in original language:
creation date: c. 1927
creation date earliest: 1927
creation date latest: 1927
current location:
creditline: Gift of the Stehli Silks Corporation
copyright:
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culture: America, New York
technique: Silk: plain weave, roller printed
department: Textiles
collection: Textiles
type: Textile
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Charles Buckles Falls (American, 1874–1960) - designed by
Charles Buckles Falls was a printmaker, illustrator, author, painter, and textile designer. In his early twenties, he moved from Fort Wayne to Chicago and worked as an architect’s draftsman, a sketch artist for the Chicago Tribune, with an advertising firm, and as a free-lance magazine and book illustrator. At the turn of the century, Falls moved to New York City. During World War I, Falls created posters for the Committee on Public Information’s Division of Pictorial Publicity. His most famous poster, Books Wanted (1917), was part of a campaign to get one million books donated to troops. It featured a U. S. Marine carrying a towering stack of books with the caption, “Books wanted for our men in camp and ‘over there’. Take your gifts to the public library.” After the birth of his daughter, Falls focused on children’s book illustration. In 1923, he wrote and illustrated The ABC Book, which taught children the alphabet using woodcut prints with each letter a different animal. In 1925, Falls began designing textiles for the Stehli Silks Corporation. Their Americana Prints series included designs by 15 American artists and depicted contemporary American culture.
* Stehli Silks Corporation (America, Lancaster, PA, and New York, 1840–c. 1955) - manufacturer
Founded in 1837 in Obfelden, Switzerland, by the Stehli family, the original cotton mill transitioned to weaving silk in 1840. By the 1890s, half of the silk produced by Stehli was being shipped to the United States; at that point moving production closer to the customer base made economic sense. Stehli opened their first US mill in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1898 and at the same time established an office in New York City, becoming one of the first American silk manufacturers. By the mid-1920s, Stehli operated five mills in three states—Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. In those two decades, Stehli’s business increased fourteen fold. A significant product line was their three Americana Prints series of 1925-1927, under art director and artist Kneeland “Ruzzie” Green. In a deliberate attempt to shift the silk industry away from traditional French design, the three series focused on imagery of contemporary American life. Fifteen well-known artists were commissioned to design 86 silk patterns.
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measurements: Overall: 48.9 x 52.1 cm (19 1/4 x 20 1/2 in.)
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Mendes, Valerie D. Novelty Fabrics. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1988.
page number: plate 8
url:
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 370
url:
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IMAGES