Title

Adina

(circa 1946)

Artist

Margaret Preston

Australia, England, France

29 Apr 1875 – 28 May 1963

Artist profile

Details

Date

(circa 1946)

Media categories

Print , Textile

Materials used

colour screenprint on wool

Dimensions

27.0 x 40.8 cm sight

Signature & date

Not signed. Not dated.

Credit

Gift of Claudio Alcorso 1971

Location

Not on display

Accession number

110.1971

Copyright

© Margaret Rose Preston Estate/Copyright Agency
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Artist information

Margaret Preston
Artist profile

Works in the collection

124

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About

Printed in 1947 by Silk and Textile Printers, Sydney, for their Modernage Fabrics, this piece was produced in seven different colour schemes on fine wool fabric; a few examples were also printed on heavy rayon fabric.

(from Roger Butler, catalogue raisonné, 'The prints of Margaret Preston', NGA, 2005)

This fabric design resulted from a unique collaboration between Australian artists and the commercial textile industry during 1946-47. The enterprise was remarkable because it was then common practice to buy fabric designs from overseas for printing in Australia.

Claudio Alcorso director of Silk and Textile Printers, invited a large group of Australian artists to make designs for furnishings and fashion. After a trial run in 1946, the 'Modernage' range of fabrics was launched the following year and exhibited at Sydney's Hotel Australia, where girls dressed in some of the fabrics sold copies of the specially produced book 'A new approach to textile designing by a group of Australian artists', published by Sydney Ure Smith. The latter illustrated 46 designs by 33 artists with notes by each artist and essays by key figures in the enterprise, including Art Gallery of New South Wales director Hal Missingham. While some artists worked as though creating paintings, others like those shown here, gave greater consideration to the need for repetition of the design whilst preserving an overall unity of effect.

There was widespread publicity, with newspaper and magazine stories and displays in the windows of David Jones department store. The fabric range was displayed to similar acclaim in Melbourne, with subsequent tours to the USA and Canada. Despite both critical and popular acclaim however, it met with only limited commercial success, which Alcorso later attributed to a post-war climate of conservatism in Australia.
Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
- Art in industry: as applied to textiles, Hotel Australia, Sydney, 02 Sep 1947–06 Sep 1947
- Margaret Preston retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 29 Jul 2005–23 Oct 2005
  
  Margaret Preston retrospective, Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne, 12 Nov 2005–29 Jan 2006
  
  Margaret Preston retrospective, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 18 Feb 2006–07 May 2006
  
  Margaret Preston retrospective, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 26 May 2006–13 Aug 2006
- Modern Times, Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo, 01 Aug 2008–08 Feb 2009
  
  Modern Times, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 23 Mar 2009–12 Jul 2009
  
  Modern Times, State Library of Queensland, South Brisbane, 31 Jul 2009–08 Nov 2009
Bibliography
Referenced in 19 publications
- Claudio Alcorso, A New approach to textile designing, by a group of Australian artists, Sydney, 1947, 14 (colour illus.). plate no. 10
- Australian artists', Art and design, 'Textiles, pg. 31-31, Sydney, 1949, 30-31.
- Stephanie Britton (Editor), Artlink, vol.9, no.4, Summer 1989-90, 'Panel session: Claudio Alcorso: the experiment that failed', pg. 13-15, Adelaide, 1989, 13-15.
- Professor Joseph Burke, The Australian home beautiful, "Australian artists create new textiles', pg. 7-9, Melbourne, Sep 1947.
- Elizabeth Butel, Margaret Preston: the art of constant rearrangement, Ringwood, 1985, 64 (colour illus.), 94. cat.no. F.1
- Roger Arthur Butler, The prints of Margaret Preston: a catalogue raisonné, Canberra, 1987, 268 (colour illus.). cat.no. 348
- Roger Arthur Butler, The prints of Margaret Preston: a catalogue raisonné, Canberra, 2005, 290 (colour illus.). cat.no. 348
- Grace Cochrane, The crafts movement in Australia: a history, 'Chapter 5. The practitioners: 1940-1972', pg. 174-175 by Grace Cochrane., Sydney, 1992, 174-175, 419.
- Deborah Edwards, Margaret Preston, 'An art for Australia from Australians 1940s-1950s', pg.173-250, Sydney, 2005, 234 (colour illus.).
- Deborah Edwards., Australian decorative arts, 'Australian decorative arts at the Art Gallery of New South Wales', Sydney, 1991, 1-4, 27.
- Christopher Menz, Craft Australia, '1946. Modernage fabrics', pg. 72 - 77., Sydney, Summer 1987, 73 (illus.), 76.
- Michael Pyne, One land, many stories, 'Margaret Preston', pg. 119, Melbourne, 2004, 119 (colour illus.).
- Mollie Westhoven, Argus, 'Cut comes to industry', pg. 12-13, Melbourne, 15 Oct 1947, 12, 13.
- Australian home budget, 'Artists', Sydney, Oct 1947, 5.
- Editor Unknown (Editor), Argus, 'Professor's praise for fabrics' in 'The life of Melbourne, pg. 3, Melbourne, 07 Oct 1947, 3.
- Editor Unknown (Editor), The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Display of fabrics' in 'Women's news', pg. 9, Sydney, 02 Sep 1947, 9.
- The Australian Womens Weekly, 'Well-known artists style fabrics', pg. 43-44, Sydney, Aug 1947, 43-44.
- Editor Unknown (Editor), The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Art accent in textile show', pg. 13, Sydney, 21 Aug 1947, 13.
- Editor Unknown (Editor), The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Australian artists design new textile fabrics', pg. 13, Sydney, 12 Jun 1947, 13.