Not on display

Sample

1966-1967 (made)
Artist/Maker
Edinburgh Tapestry Company Ltd (maker)
Harold Cohen (designer)
Place of origin
Edinburgh (made)

Tapestry sample woven in wool on cotton warps. White cotton warp of approximately 10 threads to the inch. Wool weft in white, black, blue, green, orange and grey. With a complex abstract pattern of a black 'honeycomb' grid superimposed on bands of white, yellow, green and blue, all tightly and loosely woven to give an effect of texture variation. Various areas of diaper pattern in black and white. The piece is roughly rectangular. A fringe is formed by the cut warp threads which are held captive by grey wool over-sewing.

Object details

Categories
Textiles
Tapestry
Interiors
Scotland
Object type
Sample
Materials and techniques
Tapestry woven in wool on cotton warps
Cotton Yarn
Wool
Tapestry Weaving
Brief description
Tapestry sample woven in wool on cotton warps, designed by Harold Cohen, made by Edinburgh Tapestry Company Ltd., Edinburgh, 1966-1967.
Physical description
Tapestry sample woven in wool on cotton warps. White cotton warp of approximately 10 threads to the inch. Wool weft in white, black, blue, green, orange and grey. With a complex abstract pattern of a black 'honeycomb' grid superimposed on bands of white, yellow, green and blue, all tightly and loosely woven to give an effect of texture variation. Various areas of diaper pattern in black and white. The piece is roughly rectangular. A fringe is formed by the cut warp threads which are held captive by grey wool over-sewing.
Dimensions
  • Length: 10.5in
  • Width: 15in
  • Length: 26.5cm
  • Width: 38cm
Gallery label
In designing this particular tapestry, the artist became interested in achieving a natural painter's effect of onlaid colour, while using entirely traditional weaving technique. His idea was to use a mechanically regular grid in one firm colour, while putting into the interstices of the grid either modulated irregular shapes or finely graduated and contrasting colours. The experiment above was to try different possibilities for a grid seeming to lie on top of a contoured ground underneath. The piece below incorporates most of the design ideas actually used, the flat green discs standing out from a ground in which two reddish brown dyes gradually elide into a blue. A further object here was to try the desirable weight or thickness for a linear element in the design - such as the curving black line dissecting the green discs.
Object history
Experimental piece of tapestry woven in preparation for the tapestry 'Over All' (Circ.536-1967)
Collection
Textiles and Fashion Collection
Accession number
CIRC.539-1967

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O365545/sample-harold-cohen/
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