The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Square piece of red fabric patterned with rectangular pegs, scattered at different angles. The pegs are made to look three-dimensional as they narrow to a perspective point, the sides appearing different colors as if catching the light differently, changing between dark brown, beige, and grey-blue. In some areas, the pegs cluster closer while leaving brief points of uninterrupted red.

Pegs (No. 668)

c. 1927
designed by

Charles Buckles Falls

(American, 1874–1960)
manufacturer

Stehli Silks Corporation

(United States; Pennsylvania, Lancaster; and New York, New York, 1840–c. 1955)
America, New York
Silk: plain weave, roller printed
Overall: 48.9 x 52.1 cm (19 1/4 x 20 1/2 in.)
Gift of the Stehli Silks Corporation 1928.587
Location: 234 Textile Gallery

Description

This roller printed design from 1927 features three-dimensional gray pegs against a bright red ground. Charles Falls created this textile design to “simulate the effect of still-life photography through artful perspective drawing.” He also created several designs for Stehli Silks based on motifs from Maya and Incan art. Today, Falls’s printed silks are in collections in the United States and United Kingdom, including at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as well as at Cleveland.
  • Mendes, Valerie D. Novelty Fabrics. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1988. plate 8
    Samuels, Charlotte. Art Deco Textiles. London, New York: V & A ; Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 2003. plate. 66, p. 11, 19, 87
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 370
    Hanson, Robin and Scaturro, Sarah. “Printed American Dress Silks: Wearing a Nation.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 3 (2025): 12-13. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 12-13 archive.org
  • American Printed Silks, 1927–1947. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9, 2025-November 8, 2026).
  • {{cite web|title=Pegs (No. 668)|url=false|author=Charles Buckles Falls, Stehli Silks Corporation|year=c. 1927|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1928.587