Busy, busy day. I had to go to London on a tube strike day to have an interview for my visa. This is required as Jim and I plan to cycle across the USA from San Francisco to Washington once I have finished my degree.
Then I met with a friend to go to the Artist Textiles exhibition at the Fashion and Textiles Museum.There were lots of fabrics and silk scarves on display, but in my opinion most of them were not particularly successful as fabrics. They had been created to showcase various top artists (Miro, Picasso, Scott, Moore, Dali, Matisse, Heron). It was a very interesting exhibition to view, although some information that I would have liked to have known was omitted. Many fabrics displayed were produced in the post war period to boost Britain's shattered economy. I would have liked to be told the price of a yard of the fabrics, or scarves, in UK£, US$, the exchange rate at the time and a typical working man's wage. This would have given context for just how expensive fabrics were, as my impression is that although they state Edinburgh Weavers targetted high end, Heal's middle ground, and David Whitehead targetted the inexpensive, my suspicion is that most of it was expensive by my judgement, and targetted the export market.
I liked the textiles by Victor Vasarely (1950s cups), a black and white doodle print by Eduardo Paolozzi, and a lovely church architecture print by John Piper with some lovely mark making. Unfortunately none of these was available as a postcard, and a Andy Warhol pocket watch print. I did not take my camera, as you are not allowed to take much into to US Embassy, so I was travelling with the minimum of baggage. I made a few sketches instead.
Then we walked to the Whitechapel Gallery to see the Hannah Hoch exhibition.
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