The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Brown linen cloth with linen threads that twist over one another in the center, creating a three-dimensional diamond shape that sticks out from the cloth and tilts from the upper left to lower right corner.

Study for the Ford Foundation Installation

1967

Sheila Hicks

(American, b. 1934)
America
linen ground with inset linen thread
Overall: 45.7 x 38.1 x 2.5 cm (18 x 15 x 1 in.)
Gift of Mildred Constantine 1999.165
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Sheila Hicks studied textile traditions in South America, Mexico, Morocco, and India throughout her six-decade career, and combines Indigenous techniques with modernist ideals to create her fiber works.

Description

In 1967, fiber artist Sheila Hicks created a monumental tapestry for the Ford Foundation’s New York City headquarters. It consisted of a grid of repeated patterns over a large surface area, similar to the one shown on the Study here. The fiber works on display in this case are part of a large gift of nearly 50 works given by the Mildred Constantine (1913–2008), an American curator formerly at the Museum of Modern Art, which convey the breadth and originality of the contemporary fiber works movement.
  • Campbell, Karin, Ted Kooser, Jason Farago, Monique Lévi-Strauss, and Sheila Hicks. Sheila Hicks: Material Voices. Omaha, Nebraska : Joslyn Art Museum, 2016. Mentioned: p. 33, 101; reproduced: p. 34.
  • Contemporary Art Rotation - Spring 2024. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 12-October 20, 2024).
    Sheila Hicks: Material Voices. Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE (organizer) (June 5-September 4, 2016).
    Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE (6/5/2016 - 9/4/2016): "Sheila Hicks: Material Voices"
  • {{cite web|title=Study for the Ford Foundation Installation|url=false|author=Sheila Hicks|year=1967|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1999.165