Wie das Gras (Like the Grass)

The Swiss textile artist Lissy Funk created highly distinctive pieces, usually hangings. While most hangings are made as tapestries—and, indeed, Funk was strongly influenced by this art form—she made hers in needlework, a technique normally confined to small-scale, domestic contexts. Acquired directly from the artist's heirs, Wie das Gras is a major work executed during the last and most exuberant period of her career. It juxtaposes areas of various colors, textures, and types of stitching, which together suggest the topography of a landscape, with a rich array of mysterious letter-like symbols that are unique in the artist's oeuvre.