Lot 504
PHYLLIS BARRON (1890-1964) FOR TURNBULL & STOCKDALE LTD - ROSEBANK FABRICS
THREE HAND-BLOCKED PANELS, CIRCA 1935
Auction: Day Two: 22 April 2021 | From 11:00
Description
printed linen, stripe and scroll design, in the yellow colourway
Dimensions
115cm x 61cm; 102cm x 75cm; 113cm x 80.5cm
Footnote
Note: Phyllis Barron, who had trained at the Slade, first became interested in printing fabrics on the discovery of some printing blocks whilst on holiday in France. She researched dying at the British Museum and the V&A libraries. As a member of the London Group from 1916 until 1921 she would have been in contact with the leading artists of the day, and very quickly she came to the attention of Roger Fry who asked her to exhibit at the Omega Workshop. Dorothy Larcher meanwhile had been working in India and on her return met Barron through the embroideress Eve Simmonds. She joined Barron in 1923 and together they moved to a workshop in Hampstead. Through Detmar Blow they secured a commission to furnish the coming-out dance of the Duke of Westminster, and another commission through the Duke led to a commission for cushions for Coco Chanel's garden in Paris. They moved to the Cotswolds in 1930 where the local water was particularly suitable for madder dying. From there they secured commissions from Girton College Cambridge, the furniture maker Eric Sharpe and many others. The impossibility of obtaining good quality fabrics during the Second World War forced them to give up their business.