Enid Marx and Her Contemporaries: Women Designers and the Popularisation of Folk Arts in Britain 1920-1960
CALL FOR PAPERS
A ONE DAY SYMPOSIUM, COMPTON VERNEY, WARWICKSHIRE
FRIDAY 13th SEPTEMBER 2013
This event, a collaboration between Manchester School of Art and Compton Verney in Warwickshire, examines the problematic relationship that objects of material culture associated with the terms ‘folk art’ and ‘vernacular design’ have within debates about artistic value in British visual culture. It concentrates on the re-emergence of an interest in folk art, especially amongst women designers, in Britain in the first half of the 20th century, and looks at the way that both 'folk art' and particular types of design activity practiced by women have been omitted from traditional historical narratives of art and design.
The curatorial work and collections of women designers and educators during the early half of the twentieth century is one example of what Ellen Lupton calls the 'intangible contribution' women have made to the field of design. Noteworthy names in this respect are , Enid Marx, Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, Olive Cook, Peggy Angus, Pearl Binder, and Barbara Jones. All were design practitioners and private collectors, who found little interest during their lifetimes from the art establishment in legitimising the work their collections centred around. They nevertheless mounted their own small exhibitions and published books and articles to publicise the works to a wider audience (see Myrone, 2009).
These collector/practitioners took creative and practical inspiration from the objects and images as aesthetic and culturally significant designs, but they also had a professional interest in the way that they had been made. Their collections were useful to the women in their profession as designers as well as ‘experts’ and educators. One of the aims of the event is to interrogate the relationship between the 'discerning eye' of the collector and creative practice.
Call for papers on, but not limited to, the following subjects:-
• The work of women designers, illustrators curators, collectors and educators in the first half of the 20th century who championed vernacular and ‘unsophisticated’ arts
• Women’s involvement in The Festival of Britain.
• Everyday creativity, the domestic, the uncommercial designer.
• Feminist re-visions of design history
• Craft practice as a crucible for industry
• Relationships between collecting curating, teaching, and creative practice
• The legacy of the ‘unsophisticated arts’ within contemporary art and design
300 word proposals for 20 minute presentations should be sent to Desdemona McCannon (d.mccannon[at]mmu.ac.uk) and Rosemary Shirley (r.shirley[at]mmu.ac.uk) by Monday 10th June 2013. Full papers based on presentations will be considered for publication after the symposium.
Image
From the series ‘Women’s Craftwork at the Manchester School of Art, 1932 – 33, stained glass work’ from the Manchester School of Art archive at Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections.
A ONE DAY SYMPOSIUM, COMPTON VERNEY, WARWICKSHIRE
FRIDAY 13th SEPTEMBER 2013
This event, a collaboration between Manchester School of Art and Compton Verney in Warwickshire, examines the problematic relationship that objects of material culture associated with the terms ‘folk art’ and ‘vernacular design’ have within debates about artistic value in British visual culture. It concentrates on the re-emergence of an interest in folk art, especially amongst women designers, in Britain in the first half of the 20th century, and looks at the way that both 'folk art' and particular types of design activity practiced by women have been omitted from traditional historical narratives of art and design.The curatorial work and collections of women designers and educators during the early half of the twentieth century is one example of what Ellen Lupton calls the 'intangible contribution' women have made to the field of design. Noteworthy names in this respect are , Enid Marx, Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, Olive Cook, Peggy Angus, Pearl Binder, and Barbara Jones. All were design practitioners and private collectors, who found little interest during their lifetimes from the art establishment in legitimising the work their collections centred around. They nevertheless mounted their own small exhibitions and published books and articles to publicise the works to a wider audience (see Myrone, 2009).
These collector/practitioners took creative and practical inspiration from the objects and images as aesthetic and culturally significant designs, but they also had a professional interest in the way that they had been made. Their collections were useful to the women in their profession as designers as well as ‘experts’ and educators. One of the aims of the event is to interrogate the relationship between the 'discerning eye' of the collector and creative practice.
Call for papers on, but not limited to, the following subjects:-
• The work of women designers, illustrators curators, collectors and educators in the first half of the 20th century who championed vernacular and ‘unsophisticated’ arts
• Women’s involvement in The Festival of Britain.
• Everyday creativity, the domestic, the uncommercial designer.
• Feminist re-visions of design history
• Craft practice as a crucible for industry
• Relationships between collecting curating, teaching, and creative practice
• The legacy of the ‘unsophisticated arts’ within contemporary art and design
300 word proposals for 20 minute presentations should be sent to Desdemona McCannon (d.mccannon[at]mmu.ac.uk) and Rosemary Shirley (r.shirley[at]mmu.ac.uk) by Monday 10th June 2013. Full papers based on presentations will be considered for publication after the symposium.
Image
From the series ‘Women’s Craftwork at the Manchester School of Art, 1932 – 33, stained glass work’ from the Manchester School of Art archive at Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections.
