Description:

KIRSTI ILVESSALO RYA (RYIJY) RUG, "SYYSMETSA" (AUTUMN FOREST) of monumental size at 104 x 143 in. (8'8" x 11'11") in predominantly green and black tones with vintage label to verso reading "'Syysmetsa' Kirsti Ilvessalo Suomon Kasityon Ystavat Helsinki Finland." Commissioned in 1963 from the noted Finnish textile cooperative Suomen Kasityon Ystavat ("Friends of Finnish Handicrafts"). A similar version of this design from 1956 is part of the collection of the Virkki Handicraft Museum, now part of the Finnish Craft Museum in Helsinki, available to view online at http://www.kolumbus.fi/virkki-museum/ryijy.htm Sold with original 1963 paperwork (images with the consignor details digitally erased can be viewed in the detail images, full version of the originals to be provided to buyer). The rug was ordered as a custom commission in an unusually large size and was installed in a mid-century modern house in Ann Arbor, Michigan designed in 1963 by the prominent modernist architects Edward Olenki (American, 1922-2002) and Joseph F. Albano (American, 1906-1990), who trained with Mies van der Rohe in Chicago. This house was featured in the April 1965 issue of "Arts and Architecture" magazine (http://www.artsandarchitecture.com/issues/pdf01/1965_04.pdf) and the Ilvessalo rug can be seen pictured in the living room underneath a pair of Barcelona chairs (see detail images for scan of article). Kirsti Ilvessalo (Finnish, 1920- ) is a fascinating figure in 20th century design. In addition to her numerous textile designs, she also has a career as a jewelry designer. In 1947 she entered a jewelry competition in 1947 for a Kalevala necklace design. Her "Dolls" necklace did not win but this submission started a creative collaboration between Ilvessalo and Kalevala Jewelry that continues to this day (her current designs can be seen here http://www.kalevalakoru.fi/en/kirsti-ilvessalo). Ilvessalo completed a number of ryijy designs for production by Suomen Kasityon Ystavat, typically expressing natural themes in an abstract, graphic format. Other ryijy designs by Ilvessalo include "Full Moon," "Woodpecker," "Burning Forest," and "Green Meadow." Suomen Kasityon Ystavat was established in 1879 for the preservation and encouragement of Finnish traditional crafts and it is still active today http://www.kasityonystavat.fi/en/frontpage. Ilvessalo's work received special mention in the 1979 Smithsonian Institution catalog "Ryijy Rugs from Finland: 200 Years of a Textile Art." The catalog for the exhibition organized by the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service states, "Kirsti Ilvessalo, the third innovator of the modern ryijy tapestry, has introduced a profusion of figures in her vigorous, disciplined compositions. Typical of her work is the division of the textile surface into small figural surfaces, which fall into groups of horizontal and vertical lines, as in folk textiles. Ilvessalo considers that ryijy art is mainly expression through color. She achieves an effect of depth through color in her tapestries, remarkable in an art form which has traditionally been associated with the ornamentation of flat planes. Many of her works display a dark lattice which projects from a lighter, receding background, the latter being particularly luminous at the center of the tapestry" (13).

Provenance: Commissioned in 1963 from Suomen Kasityon Ystavat, Helsinki, Finland to be installed in a house in Michigan designed by architect Edward Olenki (American, 1922-2002) and Joseph F. Albano (American, 1906-1990), who trained with Mies van der Rohe in Chicago, thence by descent

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September 26, 2015 10:00 AM EDT
Alexandria, VA, US

Potomack Company

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