Monumental "Sunburst" Architectural Fiber Wall Sculpture by Jane Knight - 1970s

Monumental "Sunburst" Architectural Fiber Wall Sculpture by Jane Knight
An extraordinary monumental fiber wall sculpture titled "Sunburst," created by acclaimed Detroit fiber artist Jane Knight (1928–2013) and commissioned during the 1970s for the Brownstone Building in Chicago. Measuring at an architectural scale, the work is composed of sixty-nine individually hand-twined wool elements arranged in a radiant concentric composition surrounding a monumental sculptural center of hand-wrapped natural jute.
Far more than a traditional tapestry, Sunburst is a three-dimensional architectural relief. Knight transforms simple materials into an immersive work of art through rhythm, texture, and color, allowing the sculpture to shift dramatically with changing light and perspective. The sculptural center projects boldly from the surface while the precisely graduated wool elements create the illusion of expanding light, recalling both the Op Art movement and the optimistic visual language of late twentieth-century modernism.
Executed in rich shades of burgundy, crimson, scarlet, orange, gold, and natural fiber, the composition possesses a remarkable warmth and vitality. The oversized loops that crown the sculpture and the substantial hand-wrapped tassels along the lower edge reinforce its sculptural presence, blurring the boundaries between weaving, relief sculpture, and architectural installation.
Born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Jane Knight received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan in 1951 before becoming Art Director for Detroit's legendary J.L. Hudson Company. She also designed productions for the Cranbrook Theater School, placing her within one of America's most influential centers of modern design. Through her husband, who worked at Eero Saarinen & Associates, Knight became part of an extraordinary creative circle that included Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and George Nelson. Their shared belief that fine art should be integrated into everyday architecture profoundly shaped her practice.
Knight's monumental commissions embodied the ideals of the American Fiber Art movement, helping redefine textiles as a sculptural fine art medium. Her work was exhibited in San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, and New York, published in books devoted to contemporary fiber design, and acquired by major corporate collections including BorgWarner and Chrysler.
This exceptional work was commissioned specifically for the Brownstone Building in Chicago and represents one of Knight's most ambitious architectural installations. Several examples from this important body of work remained carefully preserved following their inclusion in the landmark exhibition "Art Fabric '77: The Contemporary American Tapestry" at the San Francisco Galleria Design Center, while others were retained in the artist's personal collection until recently.
Today, Jane Knight's work deserves recognition alongside pioneering textile artists such as Sheila Hicks, Olga de Amaral, Magdalena Abakanowicz, and Lenore Tawney, whose innovations elevated fiber from a traditional craft into one of the defining sculptural movements of the twentieth century. Like these celebrated contemporaries, Knight understood that textiles could become architecture—transforming walls into dynamic environments through color, texture, and light.
This monumental Sunburst stands among her finest surviving works, a museum-quality example of American Fiber Art at its most ambitious and visually commanding.
The images with the golden screen and dining set were taken by our photographer in the showroom. The other interior shots are mockups of how it might have appeared in the original commercial interior or a california modernist residence.