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A. Joel Robinson, American, 1915–2012; Roman Candles Textile, 1951–52; printed linen; 72 x 50 1/2 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Marjorie Wyman Endowment Fund 12:2020

Bolts of Color: Printed Textiles after WWII

This exhibition guide highlights the Museum’s recent acquisitions of post-WWII textiles, all made during the height of the experimental screenprinting era of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

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    AUDIO GUIDE TRANSCRIPT

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Introduction

  • Speakers 
     
    Genny Cortinovis 
    Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Associate Curator of Decorative Arts and Design 
    Saint Louis Art Museum 

    This is Genny Cortinovis, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Associate Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

    Welcome to Bolts of Color: Printed Textiles after WWII. With a focus on Great Britain, Italy, and the United States, this exhibition highlights textiles made during the height of the experimental screenprinting era of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. It also features several recent acquisitions making their debut in our galleries.

    The fabrics on view respond to aesthetic and social trends of the postwar decades. From the late 1940s, textile designers explored abstraction, reflecting modern art and architecture as well as growing interests in nature and science. In the 1960s, huge, graphic designs influenced by Pop and Op Art movements reigned.

    Throughout, advances in screenprinting allowed designers to realize patterned fabrics with an incredible depth of color, texture, and precision. Whether hand-printed in small studios or mass-manufactured, textiles of this era bubble with a creative energy shared by a growing consumer base who embraced bold interiors and fashions.

  • Gallery Text

    Bolts of Color: Printed Textiles after World War II 

    Kaleidoscopic, blazing, and avant-garde are just a few of the adjectives postwar journalists used to describe the textiles in this gallery. A palpable excitement suffused the American and European textile industries after World War II (1939–45), when manufacturers engaged both established  and emerging artists and designers for cutting-edge patterns.

    Screenprinting, which first rose to prominence in the 1930s, fostered aesthetic and technical experimentation. A bridge between handcraft and industry, screenprinting was fast, inexpensive, and easy to set up, facilitating small print runs and customization. In 1951, Chicago-based designer Angelo Testa described his process to the Chicago Tribune:
    “I would make a design and go sell it to an architect or decorator. Then I would hurry home, cut the stencils, silk screen it myself, steam it, and deliver it to the sewing house.”

    From the late 1940s, textile designers explored pattern design from diverse vantage points. Painterly interpretations of nature and playful geometric abstractions informed by contemporary art and science dominated textiles for nearly two decades. In the 1960s huge, graphic designs influenced by Pop and Op Art movements reigned. Throughout, technological advances allowed designers to realize fabrics with an unparalleled depth of color, texture, and precision. Whether hand-printed in small studios or mass manufactured, textiles of this era bubble with a creative energy shared by a growing consumer base, who embraced bold interiors and fashions.

    This exhibition is supported in part by the McDonnell Textile Endowment.

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