Jacquard loom punched cards for the fabric book cover of Tkanina Polska (Polish Fabric)

Magdalena Abakanowicz

c. 1959

A long linked set of eighty cardboard Jacquard punched cards made by Magdalena Abakanowicz to program a loom and translate a hole pattern into the woven fabric that served as a book cover.

At a glance you see a rhythmic, repeating grid of tiny round holes across narrow brown panels strung together like an accordion, their regularity interrupted only by hand-tied strings and a small written tag.

These cards embody the mid-20th-century convergence of craft and machine—Jacquard punchcards are an early form of programmable design that let artists translate conceptual patterns into tactile, repeatable textiles and anticipate later computer-based approaches to making.

Palette

Art Terms

Design Textile Coding/programming Ephemera Modern art Industrialization

Exhibitions

Textiles U.S.A.

1956

Fifteen Polish Painters

1961

Constructivism in Poland, 1923–1936

1976

Textile Design

1945