Eero Saarinen’s 1957 Executive Chair for Knoll is a midcentury icon. The upholstery fabric on the chair is another Knoll icon, but not as easy to identify by name or designer. (Paul Maute’s Cato fabric, ca. 1965, FYI.) The Bard Graduate Center in New York is attempting to remedy the imbalance between fabric and object with Knoll Textiles, 1945–2010. The exhibit is billed as the first to address the “under-recognized role of textiles in the history of modern interiors and design.” Focuses include the 1945–1965 period, when Florence Knoll helmed the influential Knoll Planning Unit and pioneered modern office planning—using color and texture as primary design elements—as well as the later part of the century, when Knoll collaborated with architect Robert Venturi, FAIA, among others. May 18–July 31. • bgc.bard.edu
