French artist Jules Bastien-Lepage was one of the greatest Naturalists of his generation, painting the French countryside with muted, earthy shades of moss green alongside soft tones of beige, brown and peach. OLIVE Linen’s warm, rustic shade of dark green was a favourite in his limited colour palette, lending his canvases a relatable down-earth-quality that…
Category Archives: TEXTILES
Of all the adventurous art projects Henri Matisse took on throughout his lifetime, his collaboration with Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes would prove one of the most challenging, pushing him in ways he never could have imagined. Working with Diaghilev on the 1920 production of Le Chant du Rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale)…
Deep earthy colours like that of BROWN SUGAR Linen were a defining feature of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Baroque paintings, investing into them a quietly brewing mystery and intrigue. Gentileschi was the most celebrated female painter of 17th century, working throughout Europe for a series of high-profile clients in an era when few artistic opportunities were available…
When Sergei Diaghilev founded the Ballets Russes in Paris in 1909, he knew he wanted to dazzle and amaze audiences with something entirely new. “Surprise me!” was the famous maxim he would exclaim with glee to artists approaching him with new ideas, but little did he know the treasures that would await him in the…
Nimbus Cloud Linen’s cold blue tone breezes through Joaquin Sorolla’s coastal scenes, filling them with the crisp, invigorating freshness of the Spanish coast. Starched fabric and painted stone buildings flicker in and out of the crisp white air, forming dappled patterns of pastel blue, white and lilac as fresh and cold as the ocean beyond….
The creative union between Pablo Picasso and Sergei Diaghilev is one of finest and most influential collaborations of the early 20th century, one that would forever alter the nature of ballet. Throughout his years as director of the prestigious and renowned Ballets Russes Diaghilev enlisted a wide pool of artists to work with, but his…
GRAY PINSTRIPE Linen’s deep, dark almost-black swept across James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s enigmatic ‘Nocturnes’, capturing the quiet magic of cities descending into night. Made throughout the 1870s, Whistler’s night-time scenes portray urban scenes almost entirely cloaked by darkness, leaving only a smattering of twinkling lights or far-off fireworks in view. Painted from memory in his…
Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev was a formidable giant of the 20th century, fusing ballet with cutting-edge drama, music and art. But by far the most influential aspect of his legacy has to be his ‘Artist Programmes’, in which he invited the world’s leading avant-garde artists to produce daring Cubist, Surrealist and Neo-Primitive sets and costumes…
English Romanticist JMW Turner was entranced by the sky, capturing sunlight diffused through cloud with pale, golden shades like that of LEMONADE Linen. These glowing colours were the lifeblood of his art, investing into them the sublime, overwhelming wonder of the natural world, which entirely eclipsed any signs of life below it. As his career…
At the turn of the 20th century artists increasingly broke away from the real world, heightening the visual and emotional impact of colour, pattern and texture. Fabric was still a vital tool for artistic exploration but its depiction became ever more varied and experimental, from the flattened, Oriental forms of the Intimistes to the broken…
Colour was a vital component for the legendary Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthaler, allowing her to express deeply felt moods, emotions and memories with a rich and evocative language. Ambient greys tinged with lilac, like FALCON GRAY Linen, were a recurring favourite, which she would dilute into watery liquids and pour liberally onto her canvases so…
The late 19th century was an unprecedented period in the history of art, a time when the pictorial reality of earlier generations was gradually replaced with the subjective and symbolic. Although artists moved increasingly towards abstract and experimental styles, fabric continued to play a pivotal role in the practices of many, allowing room to play…
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a dreamy romanticist, painting idealised historical scenes set amongst the marble pillars and iridescent light of ancient Greece. Cool shades of aqua blue like BLUE BAYOU Linen brought crisp, fresh lightness into his scenes, particularly when combined with the glossy marble architecture of the ancient world. In amongst these tranquil and…
Realist and Impressionist art is a celebration of life, portraying real people in simple scenarios like caring for children, working the land, picnicking in the park or enjoying quiet moments of solitude. The fabric that breezes through this art is also refreshingly normal – crisp white cotton puffs into voluminous sleeves or bulbous, corseted skirts,…
One of the most fascinating periods in art history, the Romanticist era of 19th century Europe and the United States opened the floodgate to new and unchartered realms of expression. Artists drifted away from reality into the fantastical, irrational wonders of the imagination, envisioning scenes filled with perilous danger, sublime beauty, and erotic seduction. Fabric…
SEW THIS LOOK
Latest Posts
Search engine
Use this form to find things you need
LATEST COMMENTS
23 Feb 2025 @ 1:50 am by Donna Hedges
23 Feb 2025 @ 1:50 am by Margaret Marcy Emerson
23 Feb 2025 @ 1:50 am by Carla Harlan
09 Nov 2023 @ 1:00 am by Louise Bourgeois, “The Good Mother” (2003) | 3D Design
25 Apr 2019 @ 1:00 am by Vicki Lang