The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Samara [I]

c. 1920–25
designer

Josef Frank

(Swedish, born Austria, 1885–1967)
manufacturer

Haus & Garten

(Austrian, est. 1925)
linen: tabby weave, block printed, loom width
Overall: 69.9 x 127 cm (27 1/2 x 50 in.)
Educational Purchase Fund 1937.187
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Within this design are small pomegranates, a fruit that holds a long tradition in textile arts as a symbol of fertility.

Description

Samara features sinuous branches bearing fruit, a motif that Josef Frank returned to in his later designs at Svenskt Tenn in the 1940s. This textile uses Frank’s innovative technique of stacking and rotating each woodblock print impression to make a cohesive design that does not overemphasize geometry.
  • 1937
    Likely purchased by Mrs. Ruth F. Ruggles in Vienna, Austria from "Haus & Garten"
  • See "December, 1937." Education Department Annual Report, 1937, CMA Archives.
  • {{cite web|title=Samara [I]|url=false|author=Josef Frank, Haus & Garten|year=c. 1920–25|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1937.187