speaker: Kathleen Morris

Kathleen M. Morris retired as Marx Director of Collections and Exhibitions and Curator of Decorative Arts at the Clark Art Institute in September 2025 after more than twenty years in the position. Before joining the Clark, she worked at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Art History from the University of Virginia.

Beginning in the 1930s, a concerted effort began in France to rescue the centuries-old tradition of tapestry-making from economic collapse. This talk will chart the revival of tapestry as a compelling modern art medium in France during and after the second world war, consider the trans-Atlantic nature of the revival, and follow the bumpy path towards recognition of tapestry as an original mode of artistic expression – a story still unfolding today.

Photo Courtesy of Ellen Brennan-Galvin : Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), Rhythms of Color. Wool Tapestry.