The fin de siècle was a time of cataclysmic change: rising industry, the age of enlightenment and women’s liberation pulled apart 18th and 19th century Victoriana. Fashion adapted quickly as designers broke away from centuries of stifling tradition with loose silhouettes and experimental designs, allowing both men and women to move freely without constriction, and…
All posts by Rosie Lesso
“My work is a kind of handbook – to deal with the ghosts of what has happened.” When Lubaina Himid won the Turner Prize in 2016 the world sat up and took notice. Not only was she the first black woman to be presented with the award, but at 63 years old she was the…
Bold, vibrant and filled with optimism, PACIFIC BLUE linen mirrors David Hockney’s dazzling, eye popping blues. Celebrated for his playful and adventurous colour palette, Hockney spent his early years as an artist living and working in LA. Moving between the UK and US in his later years, the vivid colours of California stayed with him…
AGAVE linen’s cold, watery green flowed through Edgar Degas’ paintings, illuminating grassy banks, café scenes and private interiors with the fresh sheen of Parisian light. Though his subjects were hugely varied, Degas’ paintings pivoted around moments of suspended tension, from racehorses to jittery dancers and precariously balanced nudes. Silvery green tones helped him invest this…
Ice cold and shot through with mint, the sharp blue of MOONFLOWER linen played a vital role in Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s paintings, bringing fresh light into his rippling water and wide open skies. A leading painter of the Dutch Renaissance, Breugel pioneered a new brand of genre painting that was larger and more imaginative…
The hazy, lilac blue of WISTERIA linen seeped into the artworks of the late 19th century Symbolist era, casting diffused light that suggests the silent land of dreams. French painter Edouard Vuillard was part of this group; his quiet, intimite scenes were often cast with heather, blue and lavender tones, lending them a hushed air…
The damp, earthy green of DUSTY LOTUS Linen brought shadowy depths into John Constable’s windswept landscapes, lending them the fresh coolness of the British countryside. Glowering, tempestuous skies hang over his brooding scenes, while the land below ripples in and out of the light, shifting from sunlit leaves to moody, cold shadows. Shifting patterns of…
“I’m often thinking about how paintings position you as a viewer.” Caroline Walker’s enigmatic, quietly unnerving paintings hint at silent narratives without giving away the game. Women are her subjects, seen from afar in modern houses, nail bars, hotels or hospital beds, as we become passive voyeurs into their daily lives. Much like the 20th…
With the heady richness of crushed blackberries or port red wine, WILDCHERRY linen’s tart shade of burgundy stained deep into the canvases of Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse, lending them the dramatic intensity of a stormy romance. Brooding, tragic heroines fill his paintings, carrying an air of wistful, melancholic longing as their long hair and…
“Success, for me, is staying true to who you are and not deviating off a path.” Amy Sherald’s striking, visually arresting portraits capture the indefinable spirit of contemporary America. Since painting Michelle Obama’s portrait in 2018, the press were quick to portray her as an overnight success, but this undermines the strength, determination and years…
Andy Warhol loved red. From high heeled shoes to blooming flowers and celebrity portraits, shades of blazing fire lit up his iconic artworks and made them pop. The pink crimson of Firecracker Red linen was one of his favourites, appearing as inky, infused washes, bloodshot stains and patches of flat pattern, a colour that could…
“I am looking for that space where you can’t have that singular, particular experience. It’s about what is undefined, unstable – and for me, that’s important politically.” Spidery lines whisper skeletal, architectural structures, coloured streaks swoop and swirl and ink blots become darkened clouds of soot and smoke: this is the electrifyingly complex landscape of…
Blue darkness descends across Paula Rego’s disquieting artworks, lending them a theatrical air as strange, unsettling narratives unfold. PRESTIGE linen’s deep blue mimics Rego’s midnight tone, a colour steeped in density, weight and the cloaked mystery of the night. Darkness also fills the content of Rego’s art as exquisitely drawn, macabre characters expose the menacing,…
“Painting is closest to poetry of all the arts: not being able to explain something, why does one thing sound so great next to another? You can’t put your finger on it, that’s what my work’s about.” Cecily Brown’s paintings pulsate with fleshy indulgence as thickly painted bodies writhe into and over one another, caught…
Vibrant, seductive and indulgent, Crimson linen’s entrancing hue brought pulsing lifeblood into Jan Van Eyck’s iconic paintings. Red dye was rare and exotic in 15th century Europe, making it a potent symbol of luxury, wealth and prominence. In his real life portraits Van Eyck draped figures and interiors in this decadent red hue to signify…
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