“Art by the Yard: Women Design Midcentury Britain” opens on May 15 at the Textile Museum where it will be on view through September 12. The exhibition features more than 50 fabrics by Lucienne Day (1917′010), Marian Mahler (1911‱983) and Jacqueline Groag (1903‱985) †three British women designers who turned their back on wartime austerity with colorful and playful textile patterns. Inspired by modernist painters, their fabrics transformed the postwar British home and made stylish design available to everyone. This is the first exhibition of its kind in Washington, D.C.
The art of textile design changed radically after World War II as Britain was transformed from a country devastated by war into an optimistic consumer society. Day, Mahler and Groag were pivotal designers in this artistic revolution. Incorporating dramatic, saturated colors and bold motifs inspired by artists like Alexander Calder and Joan Miró, these young designers transformed the market by inspiring elegant yet affordable product lines that brought the world of contemporary art into everyone’s homes.
The exhibition showcases the work of these groundbreaking women through the display of textiles together with drawings and collages, ceramics and period furniture, all drawn from the Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown III Collection of British Textiles.
The Textile Museum is at 2320 S Street, NW. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday 1 pm to 5 pm. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $5 for nonmembers.
For information, www.textilemuseum.org or 202-667-0441.
