Tag: London Exhibition

The Fabric of Democracy: Propaganda Textiles from the French Revolution to Brexit

Published on 31st August 2023

The Fabric of Democracy: Propaganda Textiles from the French Revolution to Brexit at the Fashion and Textile Museum. Curated by design historian Amber Butchart, this exhibition explores printed propaganda textiles over more than two centuries. Discover how fabric designers and manufacturers have responded to political upheaval from the French Revolution through to Brexit. The mechanisation of textile industries from the mid-18th century led to the development of print techniques that could create more detailed imagery on cloth, quicker than ever before. These increasingly affordable processes ‘democratised’ textile decoration, allowing governments, regimes, and corporations to harness the power of print to communicate, from wartime slogans to revolutionary ideals. Propaganda is usually associated with public art and monumental sculpture. Through this exhibition, explore how fabrics have been used as a political medium both in the home and on the body, through furnishing and fashion. Find out how textiles were used as a tool of the state across the political spectrum, from communism to fascism. Discover how a fraternal crisis in the monarchy played out on cloth, and how democracies promote national identity through textile design. On display will be textiles from countries including Britain, America, Italy, Germany and Austria, ranging from French toile de Jouy to Japanese robes from the Asia-Pacific war, and Cultural Revolution-era Chinese fabrics which have rarely before been exhibited in the UK. Image credit: Peace in our Time Scarf 1938 on loan from the Paul and Karen Rennie Collection © Jonathan Richards. Find out more 

Out of the Blue: Fifty Years of Designers Guild

Published on 20th July 2020

The Fashion and Textile Museum’s 2020 exhibtion ‘Out of the Blue’ celebrates the work of influential design company Designers Guild. Founded by Tricia Guild OBE, Designers Guild started life in 1970 as a small section of a single shop in Chelsea’s Kings Road. The brand has since evolved and grown into a global enterprise, whose products have changed the way we view colour, pattern and texture in our homes. Out of the Blue unravels Tricia Guild’s unique and creative approach, focussing in on her inspiration, her intuitive design methodology and the techniques, processes and materials used. Frustrated with the lack of truly contemporary fabrics and wallpapers for interiors, Tricia’s vision was to create a lifestyle. Tricia showed people how to put the different elements of a room together; how colour, pattern, texture and form can combine to create a harmonious space. Offering unique access to Designers Guild’s archive, with never before displayed original designs and art work, Out of the Blue will showcase the story of Designers Guild, in settings that capture the changing tastes in interiors over the past five decades. Advance booking is essential.  Find out more/ Book tickets

Cerith Wyn Evans Exhibition

Published on 06th January 2020

Coinciding with his acclaimed solo exhibition “….the Illuminating Gas” at Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan, Cerith Wyn Evans presents an exhibition of new work installed across the entire White Cube Bermondsey gallery, in his largest White Cube show to date. Find out more.

Tracey Emin, A Fortnight of Tears at White Cube Bermondsey

Published on 21st January 2019

Tracey Emin’s new exhibition ‘A Fortnight of Tears’ at White Cube Bermondsey brings together new painting, photography, large-scale sculpture, film and neon text. The collection stems from Emin’s deeply personal memories and emotions ranging from loss, grief, longing and spiritual love. Three monumental bronze sculptural figures – the largest Emin has produced to date -are shown alongside her lyrical and expressive paintings. Developed through a process of drawing, the paintings are then intensely reworked and added to, layer upon layer. White Cube also debuts a new photographic series by Emin titled ‘Insomnia’. Selected from thousands of self-portraits taken by the artist on her iPhone over the last couple of years, these images spontaneously capture prolonged periods of restlessness and inner turmoil.

Doris Salcedo White Cube

Doris Salcedo Exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey

Published on 03rd October 2018

Doris Salcedo is the latest artist to exhibit at White Cube Bermondsey. The exhibition reflects Salcedo’s continued focus on the experience of mourning and the connection between violence, anonymity and public space. ‘The experience of an individual is always my point of departure. But during the process of making an artwork, I must maintain a distance in order to leave that person intact, untouched. And from there, as soon as I begin working, everything enters into the paradoxical terrain of art.’ In her work Salcedo questions and exposes trauma by exploring its capacity to reveal and connect with grief, carving out a space for mourning that is both poignant and insistent. ‘My work is about the memory of experience, which is always vanishing, not about experiences taken from life’, she has said. The exhibition is open from 28th September – 11th November 2018.