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Image

  • Textural installation featuring long bunches of beige yarn, tied in intervals with pink, red, and orange ribbons, hanging from a horizontal pole propped on a wall, creating a curtain-like display.

Sheila Hicks

The Principal Wife
Now On View

Description

Maker

Sheila Hicks (American, b. 1934 in Hastings, Nebraska)

Title

The Principal Wife

Year

1968

Medium

  • Bundled and wrapped linen,
  • rayon and acrylic yarns; Lucite bar

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Bundled and wrapped linen,
  • rayon and acrylic yarns; Lucite bar

Materials

synthetic fiber, wool, linen, silk

Dimensions

Length: 254 cm (100 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of in memory of Mary Josephine Cutting Blair

Object Number

2005.42

Type

  • Fiber Art

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

Selected Works

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Art and Design from 1900 to Now
Jun 04, 2022 – Sep 01, 2026

Label copy

Textile is a universal language. In all of the cultures of the world, textile is a crucial and essential component. Therefore, if you’re beginning with thread, you’re halfway home. There’s a level of familiarity that immediately breaks down any prejudice.

–Sheila Hicks, 2014

In The Principal Wife, Sheila Hicks created a malleable sculpture comprising multiple segments of undyed linen hanks bound at intervals with brightly colored yarn. Languidly draped over a Lucite bar and plunging heavily to the ground, these individual components are intended to be rearranged and adjusted. The work’s title refers to the varied roles of women that Hicks observed while traveling in North Africa, inspiring her to explore the ways in which many parts become one, and yet can split and recombine into new—and still whole—units. 

–Kate Irvin, curator of costume and textiles

Term Limits
Textiles in Contemporary Art
Nov 08, 2005 – Feb 05, 2006

Label copy

Inspired by her contact with the extended family connections she saw in polygamous marriages in North Africa, Sheila Hicks here explores how many parts can become one, split, and recombine into new units. Her bundled and wrapped yarns become metaphors for elemental life forces.

Hicks studied painting at Yale with Josef Albers, but discovered the possibilities of textile arts during a trip to South America in the 1950s. Her first fiber works were loom woven, but studying ancient Peruvian textiles directed her into off-loom techniques, which she used sculpturally to explore her ideas. The Principal Wife was shown in the seminal MOMA fiber art exhibition, Wall Hangings, in 1969.

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This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Sheila Hicks (American, b. 1934 in Hastings, Nebraska)
The Principal Wife, 1968
Bundled and wrapped linen, rayon and acrylic yarns; Lucite bar
Length: 254 cm (100 inches)
Gift of in memory of Mary Josephine Cutting Blair 2005.42

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Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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