The traveling exhibition "Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction" has made its final stop at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Organized by Lynne Cooke, senior curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, in collaboration with MoMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Canada, the show features around 150 works that explore weaving through the lens of abstraction. At MoMA, the exhibition responds to the museum's historical ties to the Bauhaus, including works by Anni Albers and Gunta Stölzl, and highlights lesser-known figures like Ed Rossbach. The show also includes contemporary artists such as Jeffrey Gibson, with several having concurrent solo exhibitions in New York.
This exhibition matters because it challenges traditional hierarchies between fine art and craft, positioning weaving as a central, rather than marginal, practice within the history of abstraction. By tracing weaving's resonance from the Bauhaus to contemporary global art, the show addresses broader issues of labor, environmental damage, and cultural tradition. It also reflects a recent surge in weaving among mid-career and emerging artists, prompting critical questions about why this medium is being revived now and how it connects to social and political concerns.