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Furnishing Fabric

1918 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Mackintosh, Charles Rennie (designer)
Foxton, William (manufacturer)
Place of origin
Great Britain (made)

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) designed this textile for William Foxton in 1918. The purple and green colours are typical of the bright tones of the era. Mackintosh was ahead of his time in experimenting with geometrisation and the flattening of forms. These were features that later became characteristic of Art Deco. From 1915 to 1923 Mackintosh lived in London, where he was unable to attract commissions as an architect. He created textiles for William Foxton Ltd., the most innovative furnishing textile firm in Britain at this period. William Foxton, director of the firm, commissioned artists such as Claude Lovat Fraser, F. Gregory Brown and Minnie McLeish to produce modernist designs. These were regularly featured in the periodical The Studio.


Object details

Categories
Textiles
Scotland
SCRAN
Object type
Furnishing fabric
Materials and techniques
Printed cotton
Cotton
Printing
Brief description
Printed cotton furnishing fabric, probably designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for William Foxton, Great Britain, 1918.
Physical description
Printed cotton furnishing with diagonal meanders of flame-like devices on an irregular mesh sub-pattern in black, two purples, green and dark khaki on white. Registered number: 149312.
Dimensions
  • Length: 79cm
  • Width: 48cm
  • Length: 19in
  • Width: 31
Style
Art Deco
Credit line
Given by Manchester Design Registry
Summary
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) designed this textile for William Foxton in 1918. The purple and green colours are typical of the bright tones of the era. Mackintosh was ahead of his time in experimenting with geometrisation and the flattening of forms. These were features that later became characteristic of Art Deco. From 1915 to 1923 Mackintosh lived in London, where he was unable to attract commissions as an architect. He created textiles for William Foxton Ltd., the most innovative furnishing textile firm in Britain at this period. William Foxton, director of the firm, commissioned artists such as Claude Lovat Fraser, F. Gregory Brown and Minnie McLeish to produce modernist designs. These were regularly featured in the periodical The Studio.
Bibliographic references
  • King, Donald. British Textile Design in the Victoria & Albert Museum, Volume III Tokyo : Gakken, 1980. Plate 189. Samuels, Charlotte. Art Deco Textiles London : V&A Publications, 2003. Plate 2.
  • Mendes, Valerie. The Victoria and Albert Museum's Textile Collection: British Textiles from 1900 to 1937. London : Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1992. Plate 28.
Collection
Textiles and Fashion Collection
Accession number
T.85-1979

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16649/furnishing-fabric-mackintosh-charles-rennie/
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