Portrait

Ethel Stein was well known and admired by her contemporaries for her careful study and mastery of several difficult techniques. One of her most ambitious feats was to create her own draw loom, the loom used for weaving complex designs with a system of cords that are activated by hand to control the interlacing of the warps and wefts. This loom—based on technology invented by Chinese silk weavers as early as the seventh century—enabled her to turn from geometric motifs to more pictorial subjects, such as this stylized portrait inspired by Italian Renaissance painting. Stein delineated the subject’s features, hair, and clothing with color and manipulated the weave structure to create subtle changes in texture.