£4,250
Hints on Household Taste : Paul Reeves | 700
Auction: 28 June 2022 at 11:00 BST
appliqué ‘fabric mosaic panel’, painted silk, with applied signature to left-hand panel MARY IRELAND
Note: Bears further inscription verso “‘Enchantment’ Fabric Mosaic by Mary Ireland, ‘Within A Fairy Ring He Stood/ Amid The Dim Enchanted Wood…/ And Down The Silent Leafy Glade/ There Came A Fair Enchanting Maid’/ Mary Ireland 1933”
Mary Ireland was a celebrated British female artist active during the 1930s-1950s, who was influenced by the Birmingham School and in particular the work of Joseph Southall. Although her artistic skills included cartoons, watercolours, stained glass and needlework, she was most noted for her ‘fabric mosaics’ which incorporated fragments of antique textiles into the composition of the picture.
Borrowing from the Georgian technique of enhancing an embroidery with painted features, Ireland would hand-paint certain elements (such as the hands and face of figures) onto plain silk, then create the rest of the image from fabric fragments. The textile mosaic approach she subsequently pioneered was uniquely her own. She initially wanted to work in stained glass, but after falling ill from acid poisoning while trying to work and fuse crushed glass, she was forced to change approach. In an interview with the Sunday Sun in 1933 Mary explained her revised thinking: “It was my interest in old fabrics”, she explained, “that was really the beginning. I hated to think of lovely materials ever being destroyed by age and being lost to future generations. Kept away from the air, silks, cottons and woollens retain their colour and their original strength for many years. The idea of framing them behind glass seemed a good way of preserving them, and from this the first fabric picture originated. Since I began friends and even strangers who know my work, have sent me scraps of material from every country in the world, some modern and some very old” (‘A New Art’ Elaine Arnott in Sunday Sun, 12.02.1933)
The first antique textile remnant Mary reputedly repurposed was some 18th Century Brocade and she would actively incorporate antique scraps into her pictures well into the 1950s. She particularly admired the late 18th Century fashions but tried to choose scraps that matched the relevant period of the costume in her artwork, and which mimicked the object or effect she was going for: “…These I used for my picture making, cutting and fitting every piece, however tiny, separately. I am always discovering new ways of setting fabric against fabric so that they catch the light from different angles and take upon themselves the appearance of all kinds of things. The pieces are not stuck one on top of the other as in applique work, but inlaid like a pavement of mosaic” (‘A New Art’ Elaine Arnott in Sunday Sun, 12.02.1933)
Ireland first exhibited at the Birmingham Spring Art exhibition in 1929, and soon gained notable commissions, for public institutions in the British Isles and overseas, with Queen Mary purchasing a number of works. Ireland also produced several works for religious buildings and arguably her most important work was a large triptych she produced for Bruges Cathedral. After WW2 Mary would stop cutting up and using antique fragments preferring to repair, research and exhibit them instead. However, from newspaper reviews written about her during the 1930s-50s, none appear to have questioned her practice and instead universally praised her for the unique and engaging approach it created.
The following collection of works by Mary Ireland have been collected by Paul Reeves over the last 25 years and come from his private collection.
Mary Ireland was a celebrated British female artist active during the 1930s-1950s, who was influenced by the Birmingham School and in particular the work of Joseph Southall. Although her
artistic skills included cartoons, watercolours, stained glass and needlework, she was most noted for
her ‘fabric mosaics’ which incorporated fragments of antique textiles into the composition of the picture.
Borrowing from the Georgian technique of enhancing an embroidery with painted features, Ireland would hand-paint certain elements (such as the hands and face of figures) onto plain silk, then create the rest of the image from fabric fragments. The textile mosaic approach she subsequently pioneered was uniquely her own. She initially wanted to work in stained glass, but after falling ill from acid poisoning while trying to work and fuse crushed glass, she was forced to change approach. In an interview with the Sunday Sun in 1933 Mary explained her revised thinking:
“It was my interest in old fabrics”, she explained, “that was really the beginning. I hated to think of
lovely materials ever being destroyed by age and being lost to future generations. Kept away from the air, silks, cottons and woollens retain their colour and their original strength for many years. The idea of framing them behind glass seemed a good way of preserving them, and from this the first fabric picture originated. Since I began friends and even strangers who know my work, have sent me scraps of material from every country in the world, some modern and some very old” (‘A New Art’ Elaine Arnott in Sunday Sun, 12.02.1933)
The first antique textile remnant Mary reputedly repurposed was some 18th Century Brocade and
she would actively incorporate antique scraps into her pictures well into the 1950s. She particularly
admired the late 18th Century fashions but tried to choose scraps that matched the relevant period of the costume in her artwork, and which mimicked the object or effect she was going for:
“…These I used for my picture making, cutting and fitting every piece, however tiny, separately. I am
always discovering new ways of setting fabric against fabric so that they catch the light from different angles and take upon themselves the appearance of all kinds of things. The pieces are not stuck one on top of the other as in applique work, but inlaid like a pavement of mosaic” (‘A New Art’ Elaine Arnott in Sunday Sun, 12.02.1933)
Ireland first exhibited at the Birmingham Spring Art exhibition in 1929, and soon gained notable commissions, for public institutions in the British Isles and overseas, with Queen Mary purchasing a number of works. Ireland also produced a number of works for religious buildings and arguably her most important work was a large triptych she produced for Bruges Cathedral.
After WW2 Mary would stop cutting up and using antique fragments preferring to repair, research
and exhibit them instead. However, from newspaper reviews written about her during the 1930s-50s, none appear to have questioned her practice and instead universally praised her for
the unique and engaging approach it created.
Known exhibitions of Mary Ireland’s artwork (joint and solo):
1929- Birmingham Spring Art Exhibition (inclusion)
1930-Graham Gallery, London (solo)
1931-Graham Gallery, London (solo)
1932- Applied Arts and Handicrafts Exhibition, London (inclusion)
1933- Folkestone Public Library Art Exhibition of Local Artists (inclusion)
1934- Hythe Crafts Guild Exhibition (inclusion)
1934-Reading Art Gallery (inclusion)
1934- Arlington Gallery, London (Joint Exhibition titled ‘3 women’s work’- Lady Gertrude Crawford,
Lady Coryndon, Mary Ireland)
1934- East Kent Art Society, Canterbury (inclusion)
1935- Walkers Gallery, London (Joint Exhibition titled ‘4 women’s work’- Lady Gertrude Crawford,
Lady Coryndon, Mary Ireland & Miss Nossiter)
1935- Filmed by Gaumont British Magazine creating ‘Girl in Kimono’ from start to finish.
1935-Applied Arts and Handicraft Exhibition, London (inclusion)
1936- Applied Arts and Handicraft Exhibition, London (inclusion)
1936- Walkers Gallery, London (Joint Exhibition with Lady Gertrude Crawford, Lady Coryndon, Mary
Ireland & Miss Nossiter)
1936- Royal Institute Galleries Summer Exhibition,London (inclusion)
1936-Pieces exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London
1937- Walkers Gallery, London (solo)
1938- Honor Coryndon’s Exhibition, Horsham (joint)
1939-Walker’s Gallery, London (Joint Exhibition with Dorrie Nossiter, Amy Bond & Contessa Lisa
Scopoli)
1939- Society of Women Artists, Royal Institute Galleries, London (inclusion)
1941-Duffield Exhibition, Derby (solo, in aid of the ‘Waifs and Strays Fund for Bombed Babies’)
1942-The Book Club, Crowborough (Solo)
1942-Crowborough (joint in aid of the Red Cross)
1943-The Craft House, Reigate (Solo)
1948-Society of Women Artists, Royal Institute Galleries, London (inclusion)
1949-Society of Women Artists, Royal Institute Galleries, London (inclusion)
1953-Society of Women Artists, Royal Institute Galleries, London (inclusion)