Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1941

  • Work on this object began.

1945

  • Work on this object ended.

2021

2025

  • You found it!

Scarf, America and France United Forever, George Washington 1783, 1941–1945

This is a Scarf. It was designed by E. McKnight Kauffer. It is dated 1941–1945. Its medium is printed acetate plain weave. It is a part of the department.


During the war years, propaganda took many forms. including textiles. This friendship scarf celebrated a critical political alliance. Kauffer’s design features the figures of Marianne, personifying the French Republic at left, and Liberty, personifying the United States at right. The ribbon-script lettering reminds viewers of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution in 1783.

It is credited Paul and Karen Rennie Collection UK.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 90 × 84 cm (35 7/16 × 33 1/16 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805132/ |title=Scarf, America and France United Forever, George Washington 1783, 1941–1945 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=15 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>