Kirjahaku

Setting out to celebrate, document and discuss the work and role of an international tapestry workshop, Dovecot Studios, since its foundation in Edinburgh in 1912, this ground-breaking publication uniquely explores the artistic value, nature and identity of modern tapestry through images, essays and the commentaries of weavers, artists and patrons. Dovecot Studios has constantly evolved since it was established before the Great War. Initial Arts and Crafts ideals developed into a more proactive engagement with modernism from the 1950s, when designs came from leading British artists such as Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore, Stanley Spencer, Cecil Beaton and John Piper. In the 1960s international ambition partnered a quest for experimentation, as characterised by collaborations with artists such as Eduardo Paolozzi, David Hockney, Robert Motherwell and Louise Nevelson. Throughout Dovecot's long history many Scottish artists have worked with the tapestry studio, and their intuitive sense of design and colour has often been richly matched by the imagination of the artist weavers. Experiment and partnership with innovative artists and makers have been, and actively remain, key to Dovecot's unique position within the fields of craft and contemporary art. Discussing Dovecot's history along with its contemporary work, and exploring the range of textiles produced by the Studio - which include wall hangings, chair-cover designs, carpets, textile mobiles and formal robes - The Art of Modern Tapestry offers the definitive account of one of the world's most innovative centres of textile-art production.

"The richness of the illustrations in this larger format enables us to better appreciate the intricacy of her illuminated manuscripts, the tonal subtleties of Traquair's tooled leather book bindings and the processional scale of her muraled interiors." — Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History A fully updated and expanded edition of the definitive study of Phoebe Anna Traquair. This is a compelling account of the life and career of Phoebe Anna Traquair, a leading figure in Britain’s Arts and Crafts movement. The new edition features new research about her artistic practice, materials and technique as well as her intellectual life, including her correspondence with John Ruskin. Her total commitment to the place of art in her daily life is revealed alongside new details on her family and social life. Traquair was remarkable for her openness to all types of art, and worked in a range of media including embroidery, enamels, illuminated manuscripts and murals. This new edition features 120 illustrations including new discoveries, as well as some of her most famous and best-loved works. Beautifully illustrated and featuring the artist’s own words, this book is at once a fascinating biography and an artistic study of one of Scotland’s first professional women artists.

United in promoting the superiority of 'honest' design and natural materials in an industrial age, the Arts and Crafts movement included architects, artists and designers as stylistically and geographically diverse as William Morris, Frank Lloyd Wright, Josef Hoffmann and Eliel Saarinen, and exerted a wide international influence which is today more relevant than ever.

J. D. Fergusson (1874-1961) is one of the four artists known as the Scottish Colourists, the others being F. C. B. Cadell, G. L. Hunter and S. J. Peploe. Fergusson was born in Leith, and was essentially a self-taught artist. In Paris 1907 he became involved with the avant-garde scene and exhibited at the progressive Salon d'Automne. More than any of his Scottish contemporaries, Fergusson assimilated and developed the latest developments in French painting. In 1913 Fergusson met the dance pioneer Margaret Morris (1891-1980). Morris's creative dance movements and her students continued to be one of Fergusson's main sources of inspiration and models. In 1929 Fergusson returned to Paris where he was involved with the Anglo-American art circles. Most summers were spent in the south of France where Morris held her celebrated Summer Schools. The couple moved to Glasgow in 1939 being founder members of the New Art Club and of its off-shoot the New Scottish Group. This book reasserts the artist's place at the forefront of British modernism.

Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935) was the eldest of the four artists popularly known as "The Scottish Colourists." Born in Edinburgh, he was drawn to France and returned to paint there frequently, moving in 1910 to Paris, where he moved in artistic avant-garde circles. His painting style gave way to a more contemporary and expressive approach, and he used rich colors applied with more structured brushstrokes. In 1912 Peploe returned to Edinburgh and slowly began to build a successful career as an exhibiting artist. From around 1914 until his death, he sought to paint the perfect still life. A modest selection of props, including roses or tulips, fans, books, fruits, and Chinese vases, were carefully placed in infinite varieties on patterned drapery. In 1929 he explained: "There is so much in mere objects, flowers, leaves, jugs, what not—colors, forms, relation—I can never see mystery coming to an end." This beautifully illustrated book accompanies a major exhibition devoted to the artist in his home town of Edinburgh, and throws fascinating new light on Peploe's life, on the influence of France on his work, and on his posthumous reputation.Published in association with The National Galleries of ScotlandExhibition Schedule:Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh(11/03/12-06/23/13)