Styled by Design

Gray M.C.A returns to Cromwell Place with a collection of rare and limited edition textiles in ode to the great modern masters of the 20th century.

APRIL 2023, LONDON - Gray M.C.A, the international leaders in modern artist textiles, are returning this April to London’s hub for the Arts, Cromwell Place to unveil ‘Styled by Design’ - an outstanding exhibition of framed 20th Century Modernist Textiles that brings together a collection of rare and limited edition works by renowned artists Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Elizabeth Frink, Patrick Heron and more.

The historically significant exhibition will celebrate Modern Artist Textiles as a vital creative pillar in the story of Modern and Contemporary Art, examining significant textiles designed by the great modern masters of the 20th Century.

Diverse fabrics such as silk, rayon, woven wool, linen and cotton provided a new medium for Modern artists, allowing them to experiment with creating vivid textures and colours that brought both new life and a new audience to their work.  Styled by Design invites visitors to experience these iconic masterpieces reimagined, with the same subtle details as any painterly work.

Highlights include the vast 1949 Ascher screen print on linen ‘Two Standing Figures’ - an iconic museum quality work by Henry Moore at the height of his fame and global recognition; Ben Nicholson’s 1937 ‘Vertical’ for Edinburgh Weavers; Patrick Heron’s ‘Nude’ silk scarf - drawn whilst Heron worked for his father, Tom Heron at Cresta Silks, which perfectly captures his freestyle early paintings of the late 1940s and early 1950s; and John Piper’s stunning screen print commissions for both Arthur Sanderson and David Whitehead that include ‘Church Monument, Eton’ (1954), ‘Arundel’ (1960) in woven linen and ‘Brittany’ (1969).

From the mid-20th Century onwards, these eminent artists worked with influential textile manufacturers to produce exclusive and limited edition textiles with the aim of transporting Contemporary art into the home as never before. Ascher Ltd and Edinburgh Weavers developed these artistic partnerships to develop their businesses in a new dynamic direction. Textile powerhouses Arthur Sanderson and David Whitehead swiftly followed, capturing the public and media’s attention in an innovative, multi-disciplinary fashion, leaving a legacy that holds vast significance to the Fine Art and textile industries to this day.

Ashley Gray of Gray M.C.A and curator of Styled by Design says: “The Styled by Design exhibition of textiles celebrates the modernist view that ‘a good textile was the equal of a good painting’. Post-war, innovative textile firms turned to Modern artists and translated their work into vibrant and exciting textiles that truly democratised Modern Art by making it literally a part of the furniture. Fashion designers in both Britain and the United States also turned to the likes of Chagall, Picasso, Moore and Matisse bringing Modern Art centre stage on the runway. These powerful artist textiles are a vital part of the history of the evolution of Modern Art.”

Styled by Design will open on Tuesday 18 April and on view until Sunday 30 April with an added programme of events. Amongst these include an inspiring panel discussion on Sutherland’s Coventry Cathedral Tapestry ‘Christ in Glory’ that will see leading textile and modern art curators and historians in conversation, in aid of The Friends of Coventry Cathedral. A further talk will also be hosted by Gray M.C.A with Persephone Books on the art of textiles and book design.

Prices range from £1,500 to £170,000

Opening Hours

Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Sunday: 10am - 4pm

BIID Members are invited to attend the Private View

Tuesday, 18 April between 6.30 - 8.00pm
Cromwell Place, London, SW7 2JE

Additional event

Persephone Books Talk, Thursday 27 April 2023 at 6.30pm
Cromwell Place, London, SW7 2JE
Nicola Beauman (Founder Persephone Books) in-conversation with & Jo Andrews (Haptic & Hue) about her love of of women’s literature and modern textiles.

image: (L - R: Patrick Heron (1920 - 1999) Nude 1947, Screen print on silk, signed & dated in print, Cresta Silks 79 x 75 cms; Elisabeth Frink (1930 - 1993) Snowy Owl 1983, Screen print on silk  Edition of 225, signed in print, Christie's Contemporary Art 88 x 88 cms; Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) Frontispiece 1963, Screen print on cotton, signed in print, Bloomcraft Fabrics, USA 90 x 62 cms)

More info