Penelope

Penelope Unraveling her Work at Night, 1886
Dora Wheeler (American, 1856–1940) for Associated Artists (New York City, 1883–1907)
Silk embroidered with silk thread
45 x 68 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Daughter of Candace Wheeler, who founded, among many other accomplishments, Associated Artists, a women-run decorating/design firm. Candace Wheeler also patented the technique of embroidery seen in this work. Dora created this design and others, but this is one of the few which has not completely disintegrated.

Dora studied with the painter, William Merritt Chase (painter of the portrait of Dora Wheeler to the right). You can see the brilliance of Wheeler's experience with painting as she applies it to the painterliness of the silk embroidery.


Dora Wheeler, 1882-83
William Merritt Chase
Cleveland Museum of Art