“I realized how much materials, for artists, are things that.mes diate thought… how much they become the elements of one’s expression, and instead of being just a support, they become in a way a co-author of one’s work.”
A rare and early textile work by Etel Adnan, Untitled stands as a test.mes nt to the interdisciplinary vision of one of the most celebrated poet-painters of the 20th and 21st centuries. The only tapestry by Adnan not part of a series to come to auction, this work holds a singular place in the artist’s oeuvre and market history. Commissioned in 1968 by the students of Dominican College (now Dominican University of California) to honor the retiring president Sister Patrick Harney, the tapestry was created during Adnan’s tenure at the university as a professor of French and Humanities. It represents one of her first forays into the medium of tapestry, realized in close collaboration with renowned fiber artist Hal Painter.
Dominican College played a pivotal role in Adnan’s artistic evolution. It was there, in the intellectual and creative environment nurtured by the late Ann O’Hanlon, founder of the school’s Art Department, that Adnan was encouraged to explore visual expression. Participating in O’Hanlon’s workshops in Mill Valley, Adnan began to translate her philosophical and poetic sensibility into visual form, experimenting with abstraction and color theory in ways that would become central to her later work. Long overlooked, the tapestry hung in Dominican’s library for over four decades before being rediscovered and identified as a key early example of Adnan’s visual practice. Its significance was reaffirmed when it was selected as a highlight in New Work: Etel Adnan, a landmark 2018 exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The tapestry embodies Adnan’s intuitive command of color and form—hallmarks of her painterly language that transcend medium. Infused with the same lyrical abstraction seen in her celebrated oil paintings, the present textile work reflects the artist’s deep philosophical engagement with place, memory, and perception. It also speaks to her longstanding ties to the Bay Area, where she lived, taught, and developed her artistic voice in conversation with artists, poets, and musicians of the 1960s avant-garde. As one of Adnan’s earliest known textile works, and with direct ties to both her academic and artistic roots, this unique tapestry offers a profoundly meaningful and exceptionally rare glimpse into the genesis of her visual language.
