NEEDLEWORK PATTERNS FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

Siegler has taken patterns from textiles in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and adapted them for modern needlepoint and embroidery--an ambitious but disappointing project. The original designs, an attractive assortment representing a broad range of times and places, are appealing as seen in black-and-white photographs of the entire work (usually reduced) and an enlarged detail. But their modern equivalents, shown in full color, lack both delicacy of line and subtlety of color; the softness and gentle irregularities of the original shapes have not been duplicated on the larger, modern mesh, and instead of fine shadings there are frequently flat areas of color. Despite the color matching (to Paternayan wools and D.M.C. cottons) and the discussions of materials and transfer techniques, there's little here to meet one's expectations--the originals are far superior to the adaptations.