Modern Print Monday: Estelle Laverne

Three versions of Estelle Laverne's Fun to Run

print inspired by Matisse.

Estelle Laverne (1915-1997) with her husband and

partner Erwine Laverne. Behind them a piece

of Atmospheric #1 

Atmospheric #1

The Lavernes  founded design business Laverne Originals in 1938 and

are best remembered today for their plastic invisible chairs such as

"Lily" above, manufactured in the late 1950s and '60s.

They also produced wallpaper and fabric, some of which is attributed to Estelle.

Trapeze

Their fabric is usually screen printed on mixed fabrics of rayon, linen or and/or fiberglass.

Trapeze is on the left in this article on modern fabric in 

Life Magazine 1954

Laverne prints were also done by

other artists such as Alexander Calder

and Ray Komei ,who did the popular Masks

print above for their Contempora series.

Read a biography in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/magazine/the-invisibles.html?src=pm&pagewanted=1

See another Laverne print at the Cooper Hewitt website:

https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18398661/