Owl
- Object:
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
voysey, born 1857 - died 1941 (designer)
Alexander Morton & Co. (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Jacquard-woven wool tissue
- Credit Line:
Given by C. Cowles Voysey, FRIBA
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Download image
Charles Voysey was one of the most original and influential architects and designers of all forms of decorative art working at the end of the 19th century. In 1882 he set up his own architecture practice and from the late 1880s started to design repeating patterns for wallpaper, woven and printed textiles and carpets.
Voysey's most interesting designs date from this time and show the influence of William Morris's principles of pattern design and use of plant forms and animals as standard motifs. Voysey's textiles are dominated by flowing patterns incorporating birds, deer, hearts, flowers and trees in silhouette. He sold his work to manufacturers such as G. P. & J. Baker, Thomas Wardle and Alexander Morton, and many of his designs were sold through Liberty in London. Voysey's work was well known in continental Europe, and though popular with French Art Nouveau designers, his influence was felt more dramatically by the founders of the Modern movement.
Physical description
Furnishing fabric of Jacquard-woven wool tissue. With pairs of confronted green owls and nests of young owls on green and yellow trees against a green-blue ground.
Place of Origin
Darvel, Scotland (made)
Date
1898 (made)
Artist/maker
voysey, born 1857 - died 1941 (designer)
Alexander Morton & Co. (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Jacquard-woven wool tissue
Dimensions
Length: 146.1 cm, Length: 57.5 in, Width: 49.5 in, Width: 125.7 cm
Descriptive line
Furnishing fabric 'Owl' of Jacquard-woven wool tissue, designed by C. F. A. Voysey, made by Alexander Morton & Co., Darvel, Scotland, 1898
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Baker, Malcolm and Richardson, Brenda, eds. A Grand Design : The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1997. 431 p., ill. ISBN 1851773088.
Although the designer C. F. A. Voysey epitomises the Arts and Crafts movement at its most British, and he was enormously influential abroad, the Museum began to collect objects designed by Voysey only in the second half of the twentieth century. Exhibited at the Museum in 1952, this fabric composition of stylized owls was acquired with a number of other items from the designer's family shortly afterward. Trained as an architect, Voysey was one of the most original, versatile, and commercial of freelance designers. He produced an enormous number of designs for wallpapers, textiles, metalwork, and woodwork, and his repeating patterns were frequently duplicated in a number of different forms. This pattern was used for both wallpaper and woven fabric. Voysey was a shrewd businessman, adapting his work to fashion, and was under contract to the notable Scottish manufacturer Alexander Morton to produce a certain number of patterns each year.
Lit. Brandon-Jones, 1978, no. D13; Naylor, 1971, p. 66; Parry, 1988, p. 38
LINDA PARRY
Exhibition History
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 12/10/1999-16/01/2000)
Subjects depicted
Floral patterns; Leaf (plant material); Owls; Whiplash curves
Categories
Furniture; Textiles; Interiors
Collection code
T&F
