Category Archives: TEXTILES IN ART

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…

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…

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…

Fabric is one of art history’s most iconic and enduring motifs, draping, flapping or drifting through many of the best-known artworks of all time. Throughout the Renaissance period artistic portrayals of drapery were stretched in incredible new directions, illustrating just how evocative, expressive and emotive they could be, and setting the stage for centuries to…

“One has to dream. And one must stand out from the rest.” Armi Ratia Finnish design house Marimekko is world-renowned for its punchy, eye-catching patterns that have adorned everything from printed textiles to clothing, wallpaper, tableware and furniture. Founded by the power couple Viljo and Armi Ratia in the 1950s, the Marimekko brand transformed the…

“At the beginning of the seventeenth century, flame-like rivers of cloth could billow behind a prosperous citizen, or flow over his shoulder and across his lap.” Anne Hollander The Baroque era was fuelled by intense, fiery passion and raw emotional impact. Like Renaissance and Mannerist artists before them, Baroque visionaries from the mid-17th to mid-18th…

The flowing, ostentatious language of Mannerist art in the 16th century grew out of the High Renaissance. But Renaissance naturalism and realism was replaced by heightened, exaggerated drama, and fabric played a vital narrative and compositional role. Moving beyond reality gave artists a newfound, expressive freedom, and drapery was given a life of its own,…

“Painters of the Northern Renaissance clothe their figures in a fabric that has the friable angularity of carvings made from wood.” Andrew Graham-Dixon During the 15th and 16th centuries, the enlightening ideas of the Italian Renaissance spread throughout Northern Europe, lifting it out of the Dark Ages into the wonder of a new era. Much…

“Dress was employed by the Renaissance elite to manifest rank and magnificence.” William J Connell, contemporary historian. In High Renaissance Italian art, virtuoso paintings convey an extravagant world of thick piled velvet, metallic embroidery and glossy, stiffened silks. This fabric allowed artists to tell wondrous, exotic stories, whipping and swirling in the wind, circling and…

“Fabric was more than décor; it became part of the story.” Alan Riding, writer Sinuous, flowing drapes of fabric flow across early Renaissance paintings, wrapping the contours of bodies and breathing into them dynamic life. Taking their cue from the sculptures of Ancient Greece, artists of the Renaissance period produced diaphanous veils of colour and…

“Veils and cloths are versatile instruments that stimulate fantasy and conjure make believe…” Paul Hills, art historian Fabric defines Renaissance art, cascading, caressing, or breezing over saintly figures, lavish interiors, and ethereal landscapes with decadent, sumptuous folds. Art reflects how fabric was woven into Renaissance culture, filling palaces, churches, interiors, and streets with glorious colour,…

The cool, aquatic turquoise of Tile Blue Linen adorned many of Henri Matisse’s brilliantly colourful artworks, investing in them a fresh, oceanic light. One of the most prolific and inventive artists of all time, Matisse’s long, successful career spanned nearly an entire century and covered a huge variety of techniques, from drawing and painting to…