“Woman on Front Cover of Tate!”

Posted on by Emma Neuberg

Women always appear on the front cover of glossy magazines, right?  In the art world, not so much. So, we were delighted when we saw the latest Tate Etc magazine (Autumn 2018) cover image of a woman. Not only is this Anni Albers, the iconic twentieth century modernist artist, but Albers is actively working and creating a tapestry that combines her innovative modernist theory and semiotics with European history and Aztec formal traditions. You can read about these in our book, The Geometrics: Volume Two.

Thanks must surely go to Maria Balshaw, the first female director of the Tate, for doing this as we are near certain that it is her presence that has brought this Tate Etc first to life.

Let’s celebrate together with the Director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation where we can ask whether Albers’ fame has endured over the years due to the legacy of the man she married.

 

 

MCQUEEN FALL 2016 SHOW

Posted on by Emma Neuberg

 

In yesterday’s show, 21st Feb 2016 in London, we were presented with a mix of evening party glamour, moonlit boudoir and punk constraint. Less evident was the exciting and irreverent mood that we came to expect from Lee McQueen with his take-your-breath-away collections. Instead, beneath the embroidered threads and sequins is a melancholic space that reminds us of the pre-Raphaelites’ world (1848 – 1920). May be this is no wonder in view of Lee’s legacy. The bigger picture suggests that fashion, so often construed as fleeting, can really be seen as a reflection of the on-going cultural symbols of its time and geographic and cultural location.

 

 

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What Is It About Textiles?

Posted on by Emma Neuberg

The textiles industry and its industrial legacy is central to the Industrial Revolution and capitalist dynamics expressed through cloth.  We invite textile researchers to write a history of the industrial legacy of the textiles industry from the eighteenth century to today.  Please contact us if this is something you’re interested in participating in.

There is an article here on the aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse (April 2013) and a book on the history of child labour in the British textiles industry here.

 

Pattern, Textiles & Fashion on Film

Posted on by Emma Neuberg
Quentin Jones for Kenzo Pre-Fall 2012

 

You may have noticed that we embrace animation and film narratives as integral to contemporary textiles practice. This is because textiles manifest time and story-telling in their very DNA. Even digital code is textiles inasmuchas each pixel echoes the needlepoint stitch or punchcard hole in order to make the image whole.

Last year we showcased our resident textile animator Tania Grace Knuckey’s witty, subtle and evocative textile animations at our Slow Studio Cinema event. Knuckey says: “I have to put timelines into textiles to bring them alive!”

Have a look through London designer Quentin Jones’ amazing sequences and visit the Slow Studio on April 20th to see more of this inspirational and exciting genre!

 

Quentin Jones for Nowness 2012
Quentin Jones for Penhaligon 2012
Quentin Jones for Holly Fulton 2012