Kingswood School Cranbrook Rug for Reception Room II
In December 1931, this rug was exhibited in the "Cranbrook Exhibition" at the Detroit Institute of Arts and in December 1934 at the "Opening of the New Cranbrook Pavilion". It hung on the rear wall and was draped over the speaker's platform. Eliel Saarinen used a similar pattern four years later for a commissioned rug.
Established in 1928 and rooted in the English Arts and Crafts movement, the Cranbrook Arts and Crafts Studios produced handmade objects—furniture, silver, ironwork, prints, book bindings, and textiles—for a growing campus. Founded by philanthropists and newspaper publishers Ellen Scripps Booth and George Gough Booth, between 1922 and 1942, Cranbrook developed into an intentional community of schools, museums, and a graduate art academy.
Kevin Adkisson
Curator
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
April 2024
Width: 141 1/2 in (359.4 cm)
ProvenanceKingswood School Cranbrook (1931–1973)
Cranbrook Educational Community (1973–present)
Credit LineCranbrook Center for Collections and Research
Cultural Properties Collection, Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School - Kingswood Campus
Medium | MaterialsWool pile, wool weft, linen warp
GenreObject TypeRugs (textiles)
Alternate Title(s)
- Kingswood School Cranbrook Headmistress Secretary's Office Rug
- Stepped Rug
December 1934 at the "Opening of the New Cranbrook Pavilion."
Select Bibliography and Archival Citation(s)"Curtains & Rugs." Kingswood School Cranbrook Inventory of Equipment and Supplies. November 1938. Series IV: Cranbrook Institutions. Cranbrook Foundation Records, 1981-05. Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Bloomfield Hills, MI.
