February 12, 1943
To-day (Friday, February 12) the Industrial Division of the Brooklyn Museum presents to the public an exhibition of household linens designed by the late Margeurita Mergentime. This exhibition of contemporary textiles is installed in the Entrance Gallery, first floor, where it will remain on view through March 7.
This definitive collection of Miss Mergentime’s creations was recently presented to the Museum by her family. At the close of the exhibition the collection will be placed in the Industrial Division’s laboratory of contemporary design, where it will be available for study by designers and design students.
As installed in the Museum’s Entrance Gallery, the collection presents a complete survey of Miss Mergentime’s creations in the field of household linens. The actual pieces are accompanied by original drawings and color transparencies of some of Miss Mergentime’s famed arrangements of her linens in use.
A native New Yorker, Miss Mergentime was a specialist in fabrics and industrial projects as well as a textile designer. She won national recognition as an authority in the field of table settings and appointments, and she is known as the designer who “revolutionized the linen closet” and approached the table linen problem from the hostess” viewpoint. Her table linens were created as a part of a general ensemble of glass, silver and china—ready for the party. Her kitchen, bathroom, boat and country home ensembles were also designed with the vision of them in use.
Among Miss Mergentime’s “first” in the household linen field were: the asymmetric table cloth; use of bold, bright colors and color contrasts; use of the printed word as a decorative theme; use of American history and early American design sources. Though the designs have a link with the past life and evolution of the United States, they are contemporary in feeling. Throughout them all there is an expression which is definitely American.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1942 - 1946. 01-03/1943, 027. View Original
