User:Marinwestrum/Sophia L. Crownfield

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Sophia L. Crownfield was a textile pattern designer, born on March 18th, 1862 in Baltimore, Maryland. She designed prints for some of the most prominent silk and wallpaper manufacturers in the United States. She was a middle-class woman, working to support herself and her sister. In her freelancing as a designer, she was able to make a living through her artwork.

Her Work:
Her work consisted of drawings of floral subjects using mediums including pencil, ink and watercolor. These patterns were used to be produced on silk for the women's silk-dress trade, a historical way of painting on silk, which originated in Asia. The introduction of silk in the U.S., specifically the Cheney Silk Company was established as early as 1657. Her most consistent employer was the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturers, which was established in the 1830s on the cultivation of Mulberry trees. There are 1281 documented drawings, paintings and designs of Crownfield's work. Her designs focus on the linear quality of the structure of the plants she studied. The most frequent of her subjects were studies of various flowers, plants and trees.

Exhibitions
Sophia Crownfield: Drawn From Nature, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY, February 4th- July 31st, 2022.