Portion of 'Church and Dove' wallpaper; Designed by Edward Bawden; Colour lithograph on paper; Printed by Curwen Press; England; ca. 1925.

'Church and dove' wallpaper, doves and church spires within circular windows in a green background with white leaf and branch motifs.

Given by Modern Textiles

Reproduced in D. P. Bliss, Edward Bawden (Godalming, 1979) p 78.

Bawden was one of a group of designers in the 1920s and 30s who contributed to a regeneration of design in the decorative arts by reviving the Arts and Crafts ethic of the 'hand-made' and applying it to ordinary household objects. At the 1924 Empire Exhibition he had seen Morris's 'Daisy' wallpaper and was inspired by its simple charm to begin making his own wallpapers. His former teacher Paul Nash described him 'obscurely printing a series of very original wallpaper designs cut on linoleum'. Between 1926 and 1929 these linocut prints were reproduced by the Curwen Press on a commercial scale using lithography. This was itself an unusual process for printing wallpaper, but allowed them to preserve the characteristic uneven texture of the original linocuts.

Though they received favourable publicity, Bawden's papers were perhaps too assertive and individual for the average home, and sales were uneven.

[Gill Saunders, 'British Design at Home', p.111]

E.1398-1979