Monday, December 30, 2013

Modern Print Monday: Eileen Gray

Rug Design, Eileen Gray, about 1930.

Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray, 1878-1976 
Born in Ireland; worked in France. 

Rug Design about 1920

Gray is considered a Classical Modern designer. She worked in interior design and furniture design, influenced by various modern movements that became known as International Style.

Rug detail

Room with two Bibendum Chairs

Gray's iconic piece is the Bibendum Chair, designed about 1920.
Bibendum Chair
Her inspiration:

Bibendum 
Bib has put on a little more weight since Michelin introduced him in the early 1920s.

Rug Design about 1920

I haven't been able to find any repeat patterned textiles by Gray.

Rug Design about 1920

And that may be her point. It's not about repeat.

Bleu Marine Three
Recent rug
Gray's rug designs are being produced today.

The Pompidou Museum in Paris held a retrospective of her work last year, which has traveled to the Irish Museum of Modern Art where Eileen Gray: Architect Designer Painter will be on exhibit through January 19, 2014.
Click here to read more http://www.imma.ie/en/page_236727.htm

3 comments:

  1. Recently when I was looking for new area rugs, I saw several rug designs that were similar to Gray's. They really appeal to me. Wonder how it would be to make a quilt of one of these. Are the designs in public domain. Thanks again for stretching us in new directions. Happy New Year from S.Carolina.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Re copyright. The law tends to give the artist 90 years of copyright (a big generalization) so any imagery older than 1924 is in the public domain. I'd love to see these compositions made into patchwork. The idea of isolated elements with no repetition is so "anti-quilt" it would be refreshing to see how Gray's shapes and ways of floating them could be adapted. A duet with Eileen Gray?

    ReplyDelete