As 2020 makes its unlamented exit, everyone feels the need for some good news. Museums and art galleries around the world have suffered serious financial loss as a result of the pandemic and despite encouraging messages about a vaccine for covid-19 being imminent, there will be no major upturn in their fortunes until the summer. Yet throughout the past twelve months, they have continued to fulfil one of their core obligations, to collect. 

The title of the exhibition Marie Cuttoli: The Modern Thread from Miró to Man Ray at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (closed 23rd August), may seem initially to announce its subject in fairly straightforward terms. Pioneering French textile designer and entrepreneur Marie Cuttoli (1879–1973) is the focus of the presentation and publication, whereas the ‘modern thread’ refers to her medium of tapestry.