A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

American textile designer, weaver, and color authority Dorothy Liebes (1897–1972) had a profound influence across design fields, helping to shape American tastes in areas from interiors and transportation to industrial design, fashion, and film. The “Liebes Look”—which combined vivid color, lush texture, and often a glint of metallic—became inextricably linked with the American modern aesthetic.

From the 1930s through the 1960s, Liebes collaborated with some of the most prominent architects and designers of the time, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Dreyfuss, Donald Deskey, Raymond Loewy, and Samuel Marx. Fashion designers, including Pauline Trigère, Adrian, and Bonnie Cashin, also used her fabrics, yielding some of the most distinctively American fashions of the mid-20th century.

Despite widespread recognition during Liebes’s lifetime, her powerful impact on 20th-century design remains largely unacknowledged. Featuring more than 175 works—including textiles, textile samples, fashion, furniture, documents, and photographs—this exhibition reveals the scope of her achievements and adds a new thread to the story of mid-century modernism.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

A wide expanse of blue fabric interwoven with stripes of brilliant green. — Power-loomed drapery fabric for the Persian Room, Plaza Hotel, New York City, ca. 1960; Designed by Dorothy Liebes (American, 1897-1972); National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, TE.T15564; Photo by Jaclyn Nash.

A chair with chrome arms and legs and woven beige upholstery. — Armchair, Chicago, Illinois, 1938; Designed by Donald Deskey (American, 1894-1989); Manufactured by Royal Metal Manufacturing Company; Upholstery designed by Dorothy Liebes (American, 1897-1972); Chrome-plated metal and upholstered fabric; Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mrs. Florene M. Schoenborn, 1970.1217.12; Photo: The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY.

A large, woven, textured fabric with stripes of earthy colors and metallic accents. — Sample for a window blind, 1955; Designed by Dorothy Liebes (American, 1897–1972); Wood, plastic, various yarns, Lurex; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Dorothy Liebes Design, Inc., 1973.129.9; © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, image source: Art Resource.

Vibrantly colored photograph of a studio with pillows and fabric swatches in the foreground, looms in the midground, and floor to ceiling shelves of yarn in the background. — Dorothy Liebes Studio, New York City, as photographed for House Beautiful, October 1966; Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

A black and white photograph of an elegant dining room with hanging curtains on the walls dotted with tiny lights. — Persian Room at the Plaza Hotel, New York City, 1950; Interior design by Henry Dreyfuss (American, 1904–1972); Drapes laced with tiny electric lightbulbs designed by Dorothy Liebes (American, 1897–1972); Henry Dreyfuss Archive, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 1972881; Image © Smithsonian Institution.

A black and white photograph of a white man and woman standing over a loom reviewing a weaving pattern. — Dorothy Liebes with Ernst Spence at Goodall Fabrics factory, Sanford, Maine, ca. 1948; Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Three weavers sit at large wooden looms in front of a wall filled with floor-to-ceiling shelves of colorful yarn and other threads. — Dorothy Liebes Studio, New York City, ca. 1957; Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Five oblong wooden loom shuttles scattered across a fabric in progress in a loom. — Loom with shuttles, Dorothy Liebes Studio, ca. 1947; Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

A small sample of fabric with colorful strips of fuchsia, green, blue, and yellow woven between light tan reeds. — Sample card, 1945; Designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes (American, 1897-1972); Plain-woven cotton, viscose rayon, silk, wool, cellulose acetate butyrate-laminated aluminum yarn, reed; Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Liebes Morin; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 1972-75-114; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.

Stapled to an index card is a small sample of fabric made of interwoven strips of yellow leather. — Sample card for Eagle Ottawa Leather Corp., 1958; Designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes (American, 1897-1972); Plain-woven leather; Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Liebes Morin; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 1972-75-112; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.

A sample of shimmery, gold, woven fabric that is very delicate and appears almost translucent. — Sample card, ca. 1953; Designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes (American, 1897-1972); Plain-woven cellulose triacetate, viscose rayon, cotton, cellophane, Lurex (CAB-laminated aluminum yarn); Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Liebes Morin; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 1972-75-88; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.

A sample of woven fabric with horizontal stripes of bright reds and yellows. — Sample card, ca. 1945; Designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes (American, 1897-1972); Plain-woven cotton, viscose rayon, silk, imitation leather (styrene/butyl methacrylate), zein-coated cotton woven tape; Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Liebes Morin; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 1972-75-35; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.

A long, thin rectangular woven fabric featuring vertical stripes of blues and greens with metallic accents. — Handwoven panel for the Observation Lounge of the SS United States, 1952; Designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes (American, 1897-1972); Cotton, viscose rayon, silk, Lurex (CA- and CAB-laminated aluminum yarns); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Liebes Morin; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 1972-75-5; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.

A ten foot length of plaid, woven fabric in the bright colors of the rainbow. — Mexican Plaid textile, ca. 1938; Designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes (American, 1897-1972); Twill-woven wool, cotton, silk, viscose rayon, nylon, cellulose triacetate, viscose rayon-cellulose triacetate blend, CA- and CAB-laminated aluminum yarns, cellulose triacetate-laminated aluminum yarn, cellophane; Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Liebes Morin; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 1972-75-1; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.

A woven fabric sample with horizontal stripes of varied widths and textures, in blue-green, pink and purple. — Sample card, Chinese Ribbons, ca. 1947; Designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes (American, 1897–1972); Cotton, viscose rayon, silk-acetate blend, cellophane, glass beads; Gift of Mrs. Morris D.C. Crawford; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 1955-71-5; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.

PUBLICATION

A dark green book cover. At the top in bright green, all capital letters is the title

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes, edited by Susan Brown and Alexa Griffith Winton (Co-published by Cooper Hewitt and Yale University Press, 2023). Designed by Estudio Herrera, the book is illustrated with full-color accurate reproductions and features contributions by Susan Brown, John Stuart Gordon, Alexa Griffith Winton, Emily M. Orr, Monica Penick, Erica Warren, and Leigh Wishner. Learn more.

Available at SHOP Cooper Hewitt.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes was curated by Susan Brown, Associate Curator and Acting Head of Textiles at Cooper Hewitt, and Alexa Griffith Winton, Manager of Content and Interpretation at Cooper Hewitt.

Carolyn Herrera-Perez curated the “Crafting Diplomacy” section of the exhibition, and the following interns and fellows assisted with the research: American Women’s History Initiative Research Assistant Charlotte von Hardenburgh; ArtTable Fellows Michelle Huynh Chu and Molly Hatesohl; Parsons School of Design and Curatorial Studies MA Fellows Greer Bateman, Erin Dowding, and Annabelle Oates.

Exhibition and graphic design by Isometric Studio.

SUPPORT

A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes is made possible by The Coby Foundation; The Decorative Arts Trust; the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, a program of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum; and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

The project received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

Generous support is provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation; the Lenore G. Tawney Foundation; Mergentime Family Archive; and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, administered by the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation.

Support is also provided by Elizabeth Whelan, The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, and Patsy Orlofsky.

Additional support for the publication is provided by the Andrew Mellon Foundation Publications Fund and Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.