Styled By Design: Modern Artist Textiles
18th – 30th April 2023
Cromwell Place
London
SW7 2JE
Gray M.C.A, the international leaders in modern artist textiles, are returning this April to London’s hub for the Arts, Cromwell Place to unveil ‘Styled by Design’ – an outstanding exhibition of framed 20th Century Modernist Textiles, bringing together a collection of rare and limited edition works by renowned artists Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Elizabeth Frink, Patrick Heron and more.
Christies Contemporary Art 88×88 cms
The historically significant exhibition will celebrate Modern Artist Textiles as a vital creative pillar in the story of Modern and Contemporary Art, examining significant textiles designed by the great modern masters of the 20th Century. Diverse fabrics such as silk, rayon, woven wool, linen and cotton provided a new medium for Modern artists, allowing them to experiment with creating vivid textures and colours that brought both new life and a new audience to their work.
Styled by Design invites visitors to experience these iconic masterpieces reimagined, with the same subtle details as any painterly work. All featured textiles were produced in short runs or limited editions and are much sought after by collectors globally.
Highlights include the vast 1949 Ascher screen print on linen ‘Two Standing Figures’ – an iconic museum quality work by Henry Moore at the height of his fame and global recognition; Ben Nicholson’s 1937 ‘Vertical’ for Edinburgh Weavers; Patrick Heron’s ‘Nude’ silk scarf – drawn whilst Heron worked for his father, Tom Heron at Cresta Silks, which perfectly captures his freestyle early paintings of the late 1940s and early 1950s; and John Piper’s stunning screen print commissions for both Arthur Sanderson and David Whitehead that include ‘Church Monument, Eton’ (1954), ‘Arundel’ (1960) in woven linen and ‘Brittany’ (1969).
Signed in print Bloomcraft Fabrics, USA 121 x 112 cm
From the mid-20th Century onwards, these eminent artists worked with influential textile manufacturers to produce exclusive and limited edition textiles with the aim of transporting Contemporary art into the home as never before. Ascher Ltd and Edinburgh Weavers developed these artistic partnerships to develop their businesses in a new dynamic direction. Textile powerhouses Arthur Sanderson and David Whitehead swiftly followed, capturing the public and media’s attention in an innovative, multi-disciplinary fashion, leaving a legacy that holds vast significance to the fine art and textile industries to this day.
©2023 Gray M.C.A
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