Today’s post is filled with gratitude for three of my favorite things: friends, libraries, and museums. I never tire of good company and things that stimulate the mind. Thankfully, I never seem to be lacking any of these! I’ve been writing a lot about collaboration between creative people in the 1940s recently: Marcel Vertès, Wesley Simpson, and John Little. My dear friend Lizzie Bramlett collaborated with me for this post. She read the aforementioned posts and sent me these images from the January 1946 edition of American Fabrics:
January 1946 edition of American Fabrics. Image courtesy of Lizzie Bramlett.
American Fabrics was a trade magazine. It focused on the all of the interesting aspects of the American textile industry: artist collaborations, fashion designers, manufacturers, industrial uses of fabric, automobile interiors, and furniture. It was an oversized periodical, sort of like W Magazine of today, and featured lavish artwork and real textile swatches. I was first introduced to this magazine at the FIT library. Seeing artwork paired with real textiles filled me with joy and excitement. I literally couldn’t stop looking at the magazines. I spent hours and hours paging through volumes of these precious magazines. It was endlessly entertaining, and all for free! (Libraries are really good sources for free entertainment. You can rent movies, cds, and books with your card. All you have to do is fill out a form and return the items on time.)
January 1946 edition of American Fabrics. Image courtesy of Lizzie Bramlett.
The article that Lizzie sent me is about the same Marcel Vertès print in my pervious post that is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection. Here is what the article says:
“I was bowled over when I saw what American fabric and dress designers did with museum objects as inspiration” . . . from an article by Cora Carlyle in Women’s Reporter
“One of the most exciting fashion events of 1945 was undoubtedly the descent of 22 famous designers on the Metropolitan Museum of Art in search of design inspiration. When the finished fashions were show to the public, it was obvious that the designers had unearthed a pot of gold. Combing the rooms and archives of the Museum, they had come away with sketch pads crowded to the edges with precious ideas.
Thus they glamorized fabric and fashion in the finest sense of the word, and on the highest level. The demonstration contributed materially to the fashion industry . . . to the public . . . to the Museum. It delineated the living qualities of Museum art in practical form. It educated the public to an appreciation of art as it can be applied to everyday living.
So let’s go to the museums more often . . . let’s encourage our designers to closer rapport between art and industry . . . let’s have art IN industry . . . to the mutual benefit of both. Over $780,000,000 worth of design ideas are waiting to be tapped. Let’s profit by the world’s great art in museums.“
(I couldn’t agree more!!!!!!!!!!)
January 1946 edition of American Fabrics. Image courtesy of Lizzie Bramlett.
Vertès was inspired by the Flemish Angel painting above, which he turned into a textile print for Wesley Simpson, used by Hattie Carnegie for a dress.
Marcel Vertès textile design for for Wesley Simpson, 1944. Used for dress design by Hattie Carnegie. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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