I vaguely (I’m lying)
remember the word “mod” used during the late 1960s to describe anything that
was slightly “edgy” (I hate that word) and “hip.” It encompassed everything
from hippie-inspired garb to International Style furniture. It also included
all sorts of modern design that displayed anything other than a conventional
aesthetic. Here are some classic mod textile designs from a period when I
imagine they would have been featured in a shop on Carnaby Street (THE mod
street in London during the late 60s for avant-garde everything).
The textiles displayed in this post were all produced by Heal’s,
a venerable furniture/interior design/textile design company in London that’s
been around since 1810, but has never hesitated to break the mold when it came
to contemporary design. In the second decade of the 1800s, they introduced
feather-filled mattresses into Britain. This replaced the centuries-old
practice of straw mattresses. I’ve slept on a straw mattress, and it isn’t conducive
to a comfortable night’s sleep.
In the 1830s, Heal’s was one of the first firms to place
advertisements in the book jackets of serialized novels (such as those of
Charles Dickens). In 1917 they started the Mansard Gallery in their store on
Tottenham Court Road in London as a venue to see avant-garde art. This gallery
was the first to feature the work of Modigliani in Britain.
Soon after 1933, Heal’s began to exhibit pieces of distinctly
radical Bauhaus designs, including pieces such as the Barcelona furniture of
Mies van der Rohe. During World War II (1939–1945) they produced parachutes for
the war effort, leading to the introduction of Heal’s Fabrics. By the
mid-1950s, they were marketing designs in such progressive styles as
Mid-Century Modern, International Style, Scandinavian, and ultimately the
coolest of mod designs, Pop Art and Op Art.
Here are some examples from their mod period:
Brown was the most high-profile designer of the period for
Heal’s, starting in the early 1960s. Many of her designs from that period
reflected Op Art. This push-pull illusion was a hallmark of Op Art.
McNish was the first British designer with African roots to
gain an international reputation for her textile designs. This design
definitely displays the influence of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), one of her
declared influences.
Although Britain didn’t have its own post-war abstract
school, this textile totally reminds me of the gestural wing of Abstract
Expressionism in the US.
Redgrave was another mid-century designer whose Op Art
textile designs gained an international reputation. This piece really reminds
me of the paintings of Victor Vasarely (1906–1997).
Op Art-inspired designs like this (it reminds me of Richard
Anuszkiewicz paintings) were hot and “mod” until the first half of the 1970s.
One of the many influences in Golden’s exciting designs was
Abstract Expressionism. That influence is clear in this textile. It reminds me
of a Willem de Kooning lithograph that he put on the litho stone with a floor
mop!
![]() |
Zandra Rhodes (born 1940, Britain), Textile, ca. 1965. Printed cotton plain weave, 23 1/4" x 23 1/4" (59.1 x 59.1 cm). Image © Philadelphia Museum of Art. (PMA-6313) |
Rhodes designed really awesome New Wave fashions in the
early 1980s. For the mid-1960s, this textile is pretty forward looking,
combining elements of Pop Art and the random abstraction of the Abstraction-Création
group of the late 1950s.
Correlations to Davis
programs: Explorations in Art Grade 6:
4.Studio 23-24; A Personal Journey: 3.1, 3.4; A Community Connection: 5.2; A
Global Pursuit: 9.4; Exploring Visual Design: 11; The Visual Experience: 10.8,
12.4, 16.7; Discovering Art History: 2.2
I have as of late begun an online journal, the information you give on this website has helped me extraordinarily. Much obliged for the majority of your time and work. crockmeter
ReplyDelete