Brought to the United States by a travel scholarship, Ingrid Dessau quickly fell in love with the exciting lifestyle and landscape of New York City. The early 1950s were a particularly productive period for the promising young designer who saw her professional breakthrough with a solo show at the Galleri Moderne in Stockholm in 1953. 

Manhattan, a stunning wool hanging, hand-woven by weavers from the Kristianstad County Handicraft Society, remains her most notable work from that fruitful era.

The artwork shows lined up Manhattan skyscrapers, at night, with some windows still lit up. It was originally not meant as a wall hanging but as a piece of textile art to be hung in a window. The lit windows are woven with a different technique than the rest of the textile, allowing light to pass through them and creating a playful and evolutive piece. The composition of the vibrant modern cityscape is reminiscent of the modernist grid which anchors Manhattan perfectly in its historical and cultural context, yet it was woven with pre-industrial era techniques, allowing for an interesting tension between subject and medium.