Not currently on display at the V&A

Maud

Furnishing Fabric
ca. 1913 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The Omega Workshops were founded in 1913 by the British designer and painter Roger Fry (1866-1934). Motivated in part by the commercial success of several European artist workshops such as the Weiner Werkstätte, Fry brought together a group of artists to design furniture, pottery, glass, textiles and entire schemes of interior decoration. Believed to have been printed in France by Besselièvre, Omega textiles, which included hand painted batiks, machine printed linens and hand-tufted rugs were progressive in style, mirroring contemporary aesthetic preoccupations within the fields of painting and sculpture.

Drawing upon his fine-art background, Fry believed that Omega's textile designs should err on the side of spontaneity, reflecting an expressive quality that only the artist's hand could invoke. One of just six printed linens produced by Omega, Maud (probably named after Lady Maud Cunard), was available in four colour ways. The striking design is attributed to Omega's co-director, Vanessa Bell (1879-1961). Whilst it may have proved a touch too extrovert for everyday fashions, Fry wore Maud pyjamas in 1918 to a party for the Ballet Russes, and Duncan Grant (1885-1978) used Maud within his costume designs for Cocteau's experimental production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in 1914.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMaud (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Printed linen
Brief description
Furnishing fabric 'Maud' of printed linen, designed by Vanessa Bell, made by Besselièvre, Maromme, France, retailed by Omega Workshops, Great Britain, ca. 1913
Physical description
Furnishing fabric of printed linen with an abstract design of rectangular and triangular shapes in blue, green and pink on a white ground, with broad black lines emphasising the pattern, and the shapes have a serrated edge on one side.
Dimensions
  • Height: 206mm
  • Width: 393mm
Credit line
Given by Miss Margery Fry
Object history
The names given to Omega textiles were supposedly given by the German ambassador's wife, Princess Lichnowsky. 'Maud' was named after Lady Cunard.

Attribution note: The price per yard varied from 2/9d to 4/-.
Summary
The Omega Workshops were founded in 1913 by the British designer and painter Roger Fry (1866-1934). Motivated in part by the commercial success of several European artist workshops such as the Weiner Werkstätte, Fry brought together a group of artists to design furniture, pottery, glass, textiles and entire schemes of interior decoration. Believed to have been printed in France by Besselièvre, Omega textiles, which included hand painted batiks, machine printed linens and hand-tufted rugs were progressive in style, mirroring contemporary aesthetic preoccupations within the fields of painting and sculpture.

Drawing upon his fine-art background, Fry believed that Omega's textile designs should err on the side of spontaneity, reflecting an expressive quality that only the artist's hand could invoke. One of just six printed linens produced by Omega, Maud (probably named after Lady Maud Cunard), was available in four colour ways. The striking design is attributed to Omega's co-director, Vanessa Bell (1879-1961). Whilst it may have proved a touch too extrovert for everyday fashions, Fry wore Maud pyjamas in 1918 to a party for the Ballet Russes, and Duncan Grant (1885-1978) used Maud within his costume designs for Cocteau's experimental production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in 1914.
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.35-1956

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Record createdSeptember 28, 2004
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