Twentieth-Century Fabrics

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Review

The author is the former Director of the Library of Fabrics at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, and a professor of textile art. In these capacities she has organised nearly 70 exhibitions on themes such as fabrics, costumes, and embroidery, not only in Venice, Rome, Berlin, London, and New York but also in St. Petersburg and Beijing. It is a joy to read an author with so much expert knowledge endeavouring to pay homage to the "unsung creators" of textile design.
After "Italian Art Ceramics", the publishers, Skira, wanted to produce a further study of modern decorative art offering lavish illustrations accompanied by historical and technical background information in concise text contributions.
Despite the limited space for comments, Doretta Davanzo Poli has managed to produce an overview that incorporates her exceptionally detailed knowledge of European and American fabric collections. Thus she mentions German weaver Else Mögelin who, even in her own country, is only known to insiders, and Grete Reichardt who lived in East Germany during her productive years, and is thus almost unknown in the West; a student of Bauhaus, she has created great textile art comparable to the work of Gunta Stölzl. Such pieces were kept in the Municipal Art Collections of Chemnitz for a long time, "concealed" in a city that the older generation still knows as Karl-Marx-Stadt.
The book is organised chronologically. Beginning with William Morris and the British Arts & Crafts Movement, it takes in Art Nouveau in Belgium and Germany, led by Henri van der Velde, Wiener Werkstätte, Art Déco in France, and the Russian avant-garde of the Twenties. It is followed by Italian Futurism from the 1930s into the post-war period, pop art, op art and kinetic art, and their impact on fabric design. The author mainly focuses on high-quality fabrics for fashion and interiors, which is why she gives most space to French and, above all, Italian products.
I was surprised to find that I was unaware of most of the French and Italian textile designers' names, although I believe that not many books on fabrics have passed me by these past 30 years. However, all too often producers of fashion for the clothing sector or interior decoration do not divulge the designers of the fabrics they process, or do not advertise them in their documentation. The appendix of this highly recommendable book includes a glossary, and, most importantly, an overview listing 173 fabric artists and manufacturers, plus a bibliography in chronological order.

Beatrijs Sterk

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