Horrockses dress designed by John Tullis
After the Second World War the textile industry in Britain faced significant challenges in redefining its identity and relevance. Despite the post-war economic boom, the the event of the decade – The Festival of Britain – failed to show off much artistic expression in the textile industry. It was still considered a rather dry field made up of professional textile designers rather than artists in their own right. It wasn’t until 1953 when the groundbreaking ICA exhibition ‘Painting into Textiles,’ (from where I stole my tagline… ). showed that textiles could be presented as works of art and many textile houses bought original paintings to use as source material for new exciting patterns. For example on show was one of Eduardo Paolozzi,’s paintings which was used for a rather stunning dress fabric manufactured by Horrockses Fashions.
The show was organised by Hans and Elspeth Juda, the glamorous couple who fled from Berlin during the war and founded The Ambassador Magazine, a bold and cutting edge trade magazine for the textile industry which undoubtedly played a big part in elevating the status of textiles as art. Hans Juda believed it was important that the exhibiting artists showed original artwork rather than finished textile designs. However, established textile designers such as Jaqueline Groag and Marian Mahler were also featured. The exhibition was a great success and shone the spotlight on textiles and brought about a wider appreciation than before.
It served as a catalyst for other manufacturers such as David Whitehead LTD to push ahead with using forward leaning designs by artists including Henry Moore and John Piper, whose design Foliate Head was one of the most enduringly popular designs sold.
It served as a catalyst for other manufacturers such as David Whitehead LTD to push ahead with using forward leaning designs by artists including Henry Moore and John Piper, whose design Foliate Head was one of the most enduringly popular designs sold signalling a new era of creativity and innovation in British textiles.
This is how the British textile industry moved from functional utility to artistic expression, therefore elevating textiles to the status of fine art.
Foliate Head by John Piper
