Joan Crawford in Letty Lynton, 1932.
Dress by Adrian.
Movie set and costume design introduced modern emphasis
on line, shape and contrast into American taste.
Adrian's dresses often included flat geometric shapes.
Modern is a strange word in that it means both current and past at the same time. Modernism was an early 20th century art movement---modern is up-to-date.
Carol Gilham Jones, Free Form Circles, 2008
Simple geometrics repeated---a hallmark of Modernism
Rain, Steam & Speed: The Great Western Railway, 1844
by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851)
Cocktail by Gerald Murphy, 1927
Oil painting
The modern art movement in the early 20th century emphasized shape and flat planes of color.
Elektrische Prismen, by Sonia Delaunay, 1914
Oil Painting
European designers like Anni Fleschman Albers and Sonia Delaunay adapted modern design to textiles.
Weaving by Anni Albers, 1926
Modernists looked to folk arts like stencilled decorations and folk weavings for inspiration. Folk art and ethnic arts took on new value as artists imitated their use of color and abstraction.
Modernists looked to folk arts like stencilled decorations and folk weavings for inspiration. Folk art and ethnic arts took on new value as artists imitated their use of color and abstraction.
Detail of a log cabin quilt, about 1880
Chinese Coins, about 1900
We can imagine how fresh these 19th-century American quilts must have looked to people who grew up in the visual clutter of the Victorian era.
Patchwork 1908
Reel quilt, about 1850
Mennonite sawtooth medallion, about 1900
Detail pieced floral about 1850
It's easy to find parallels between 20th century modern art and 19th century quilts, but it isn't coincidence. Modern artists found much inspiration in folk arts.
Find inspiration in Anni Albers weavings at the Albers Foundation:
Read more about Sonia Delaunay's textiles at the Textile Blog
Read more about modern quilts in my February post:
Fleamarket Fancy by Denyse Schmidt
About 2005
