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Liberty Fabrics

Poster
1949 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Havinden, Ashley (designer)
Place of origin
London (issued)

'Liberty Fabrics'. Colour offset lithograph poster advertising fabrics made by Liberty & Co Ltd., London. The design shows a skein of different fabrics (corduroy, spotted silks and a pre-war floral pattern) draped around a letter 'L'. The letter 'L' and hemispheres at the top and bottom of the poster are white, against a grey background. Signed and dated 'ASHLEY 1949'.

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read Ashley Havinden and the 'Britain Can Make It' poster Held at the V&A in 1946, 'Britain Can Make It' was a landmark post-war exhibition, showcasing the best of modern British design. Margaret Timmers, former Senior Curator of Prints at the V&A, explores the development of Ashley Havinden's patriotic exhibition poster, revealing a fascinating ...

Object details

Categories
ELISE
Prints
Advertising
Posters
Object type
Poster
TitleLiberty Fabrics
Materials and techniques
Colour offset lithograph
Printing Ink
Offset Lithography
Brief description
'Liberty Fabrics'. Colour offset lithograph poster advertising fabrics made by Liberty & Co Ltd., London. The design shows a skein of different fabrics draped around a letter 'L'. Designed by Ashley Havinden. Great Britain. 1949.
Physical description
'Liberty Fabrics'. Colour offset lithograph poster advertising fabrics made by Liberty & Co Ltd., London. The design shows a skein of different fabrics (corduroy, spotted silks and a pre-war floral pattern) draped around a letter 'L'. The letter 'L' and hemispheres at the top and bottom of the poster are white, against a grey background. Signed and dated 'ASHLEY 1949'.
Dimensions
  • Height: 76.5cm
  • Width: 50.4cm
  • Height: 75.9cm
  • Width: 50.6cm
Second pair of dimensions taken from: Summary Catalogue of British Posters to 1988 in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Department of Design, Prints & Drawing. Emmett Publishing, 1990. 129 p. ISBN: 1 869934 12 1
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Liberty / Fabrics' (Text of design.)
  • 'ASHLEY 1949' (Signed and dated, lower-left cormer of design.)
Historical context
Government restrictions and general shortages after the Second World War meant that even a major London fabric store like Liberty's was using standard fabrics in its advertisements: here corduroy, spotted silks and a pre-war floral pattern.

[Julia Bigham, 'British Design at Home', p.136]
Subject depicted
Fabric
Bibliographic references
  • Summary Catalogue of British Posters to 1988 in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Department of Design, Prints & Drawing. Emmett Publishing, 1990. 129 p. ISBN: 1 869934 12 1
  • Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1971
Other number
18/B2 - V&A microfiche
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
CIRC.464-1971

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Record createdFebruary 11, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O22984/liberty-fabrics-poster-havinden-ashley/
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