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Embroidered picture
Marguerite Zorach’s Indian Wedding is an embroidered picture created in 1915 that was also signed by her husband, William Zorach. The scene of a procession of dancing figures in colorful costume, black elephant bearing a howdah occupied by a bride and groom, and the contiguous building facades in the background was inspired during Marguerite Zorach’s visit to India in 1911. The densely placed linear wool stitches that nearly cover the linen ground is typical of Marguerite and William Zorach’s collaborative embroideries of the 1910s. The extent of William Zorach’s contributions to this and other early embroideries signed by them both has been the subject of scholarly debate, but the strength and duration of their artistic partnership matched that of their marriage. Both young artists were experimenting with a range of media at this time.
Marguerite Zorach initially painted this composition in oil on canvas (a work of art now in a private collection) but concluded, “An Indian wedding was such a colorful thing, that to do it in oil paint just seemed pathetic. I did this picture over in wool. That was the beginning of the embroideries.” While Zorach’s embroidered textile works of art grew in scale and complexity until she stopped creating them at the end of the 1940s, her intentional use of the color range found in dyed wool threads was a constant.
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Indian Wedding
Embroidered picture
American
1915
Medium/Technique
Linen plain weave, wool embroidery
Dimensions
Height x width: 54.6 × 72.4 cm (21 1/2 × 28 1/2 in.)
Framed: 59.1 × 76.5 cm (23 1/4 × 30 1/8 in.)
Framed: 59.1 × 76.5 cm (23 1/4 × 30 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Pamela Canfield Grossman
Accession Number2023.344
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsTextiles
Marguerite Zorach’s Indian Wedding is an embroidered picture created in 1915 that was also signed by her husband, William Zorach. The scene of a procession of dancing figures in colorful costume, black elephant bearing a howdah occupied by a bride and groom, and the contiguous building facades in the background was inspired during Marguerite Zorach’s visit to India in 1911. The densely placed linear wool stitches that nearly cover the linen ground is typical of Marguerite and William Zorach’s collaborative embroideries of the 1910s. The extent of William Zorach’s contributions to this and other early embroideries signed by them both has been the subject of scholarly debate, but the strength and duration of their artistic partnership matched that of their marriage. Both young artists were experimenting with a range of media at this time.
Marguerite Zorach initially painted this composition in oil on canvas (a work of art now in a private collection) but concluded, “An Indian wedding was such a colorful thing, that to do it in oil paint just seemed pathetic. I did this picture over in wool. That was the beginning of the embroideries.” While Zorach’s embroidered textile works of art grew in scale and complexity until she stopped creating them at the end of the 1940s, her intentional use of the color range found in dyed wool threads was a constant.
DescriptionEmbroidered picture of a procession of dancers in foreground with black elephant carrying figures of bride and groom in a howdah with background of architectural forms in white, pink, red, orange, light green, light purple, and light blue stitches. Double line of black embroidered stitches with inscription across the bottom forms the border.
Signed
Names of artists and date embroidered across bottom of border
InscriptionsEmbroidered in black thread in border at center bottom:
An Indian Wedding - William and Marguerite Zorach MCMXV
An Indian Wedding - William and Marguerite Zorach MCMXV
Provenance1918, sold by Daniel Gallery, New York City to Lathrop Brown (b.1883 - d.1959) and Helen Hooper Brown (b.1891 - d. 1977), Boston; by inheritance to their granddaughter, Pamela Canfield Grossman, Brookline, MA; 2023, gift of Pamela Canfield Grossman to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 21, 2023)