Artist textiles: Picasso to Warhol

Fascinating exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at how many artists in the 20th century designed for textiles.

The range of artists that did this was amazing including Picasso, Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Andy Warhol and Eduardo Paolozzi. Of course I loved the fact there was a Duncan Grant material in the first room and an Omega stool.

I was most interested in the section on the 1950s when there seems to have been a conscious effort both in Europe and American to improve design in textiles by involving artists and I loved the section on Horrockses. My mother was a great fan of the company. I was also interested to see that Eduardo Paolozzi and his wife Freda formed an Omega like company with Adrian Stephen’s daughter Judith, i.e. niece of Vanessa Bell!

I was amused at the late 1950s and 1960s designs as I could see how they influenced things I remembered from my childhood which showed me how cutting edge design works its way into everyday life.

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