Three Circles
Furnishing Fabric
1937 (made)
1937 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Edinburgh Weavers was set up in 1928 by James Morton as a subsidiary of Morton Sundour, with the specific aim of creating a new range of woven textiles which would compliment modern interior design. In 1932 the company was taken over by Morton's son Alastair, an artist and designer who experimented with hand screen printing.
Morton commissioned a number of ground-breaking aritsts among the avant garde of British modernism in the 1930s including Ben Nicholson, a close friend of Morton's. The range of 'Constructivist Fabrics' launched in 1937 included three designs by Nicholson, who the same year co-edited Circle, International Survey of Constructive Art, a direct attempt to establish a distinctive form of modernism in Britain.
Morton commissioned a number of ground-breaking aritsts among the avant garde of British modernism in the 1930s including Ben Nicholson, a close friend of Morton's. The range of 'Constructivist Fabrics' launched in 1937 included three designs by Nicholson, who the same year co-edited Circle, International Survey of Constructive Art, a direct attempt to establish a distinctive form of modernism in Britain.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Three Circles (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Screen-printed cotton and rayon |
| Brief description | Furnishing fabric 'Three Circles' of screen-printed cotton and rayon, designed by Ben Nicholson, made by Edinburgh Weavers, Carlisle 1937. |
| Physical description | Furnishing fabric of screen-printed cotton and rayon. Horizontal bands in lilac are decorated with outlines of circles alternating with bands of beige and white of varying thicknesses and thin red stripes. Thin white vertical stripes run across the design at intervals. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | Historical significance: This and CIRC.170-1938, CIRC.471-1939, CIRC.523-1954 and CIRC.172-1938 are from the range of 'Constructivist Textiles' designed by Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson for Edinburgh Weavers in Autumn 1937. The same design as CIRC.471-1939 except the circles are omitted in the latter and the colours are different. |
| Summary | Edinburgh Weavers was set up in 1928 by James Morton as a subsidiary of Morton Sundour, with the specific aim of creating a new range of woven textiles which would compliment modern interior design. In 1932 the company was taken over by Morton's son Alastair, an artist and designer who experimented with hand screen printing. Morton commissioned a number of ground-breaking aritsts among the avant garde of British modernism in the 1930s including Ben Nicholson, a close friend of Morton's. The range of 'Constructivist Fabrics' launched in 1937 included three designs by Nicholson, who the same year co-edited Circle, International Survey of Constructive Art, a direct attempt to establish a distinctive form of modernism in Britain. |
| Bibliographic reference | Hollis, Marianne and Opie, Jennifer. Thirties: British Art and Design before the war. London : Arts Council, 1979. Catalogue 10.7. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.470-1939 |
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| Record created | October 18, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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