Markelius

c. 1942

Markelius, c. 1942. Stig Lindberg (Swedish, 1916–1982), Knoll Associates (American, est. 1938). Plain weave linen (?), loom width, block printed; average: 321.3 x 128.3 cm (126 1/2 x 50 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1948.493 Stig Lindberg may have designed this textile in homage to Stockholm’s most prominent post-World War II architect and city planner, Sven Markelius (1889–1972), for whom this textile is named. The strong use of geometry and the grid pattern were hallmarks of Markelius’s building and city designs, linking this pattern to the urban planner’s modernist visions for Sweden’s capital. Though this pattern is often attributed to the architect Sven Markelius, this textile identifies Stig Lindberg as its designer on the selvage edge.