Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1960

  • Work on this object began.

2021

2023

2025

  • You found it!

Textile, Drapery panel for the Marco Polo Club at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City

This is a Textile. It was designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes and interior designer: Donald Deskey.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from National Museum of American History as part of A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

It is dated 1960. Its medium is cotton, rayon, and metallic yarns. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.


The focal point of the cocktail lounge was a wall of scarlet draperies by Liebes. Heavily striped with metallic gold and red Lurex yarns, they reflected the "patter of light and shadow" created by a colored glass sculpture by Edward Chávez (1917–1995) set in a reflecting pool of aqua ripple glass blocks illuminated from below.

It is credited Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 268.3 × 114.3 cm (8 ft. 9 5/8 in. × 45 in.) pleated at top

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

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/2318805419/ |title=Textile, Drapery panel for the Marco Polo Club at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=30 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>