VISIONARIES OF 20th CENTURY TEXTILES

Alex Walker and Tom Heron - A story that takes us from the mills of Yorkshire in the 1920s to the coast of Cornwall. From Welwyn Garden City to the corridors of power at Westminster. Art, design, textiles, fashion, politics, publishing, philosophy, and the very genesis of modern art in Britain. This lecture tells the story of creativity, determination, passion, and resilience of a true textile Maverik. Today the V&A has14 Cryséde garments on permanent display

Modernism was a hallmark of Cryséde, founded in Cornwall by a Yorkshire mill owner’s son in 1920. Alec Walker, had already commissioned McKnight Kauffer’s poster designs for Vigil Silk in 1919. Ernest and Dod Proctor encouraged Walker’s love of painting and introduced him to fauvist Raoul Dufy. Dufy was experimenting with block printing with designer Paul Poiret. As the business flourished Walker asked fellow Yorkshire man Tom Heron to join Cryséde, bringing an enlightened business discipline that strengthened and widened its appeal. Walker fell ill in 1929 and parted company with Heron shortly after.

Following the break with Cryséde, Heron founded Cresta Silks in Welwyn Garden City. A follower of the Leeds Art Club, Heron was close to the Avant-garde figures of the day. He revolutionised the interwar fashion world by commissioning modernist designs for textiles from Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland and Cedric Morris. Edward McKnight Kauffer produced promotional designs and logos whilst across the country shop fronts were modelled by Unit One architect Wells Coates.

Heron was appointed to the Board of Trade and played a key role in the wartime development of the Utility Clothing Scheme, commissioning designers such as Hardy Amies, Edward Molyneaux and Norman Hartnol.

After World War II his son Patrick became principal designer for the firm. Cresta featured in the ‘Britain Can Make It’ exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1946. When Cryséde closed, Cresta Silks purchased their blocks which they continued to use. Patrick went on to become one of the most celebrated artists of the St Ives School. Cresta ceased trading in the late 1970s. This lecture will tell the story of the fusion of fashion textiles and Modern art a cultural renaissance of 20th Century design.

How to book this event:

Visitors are always welcome either in person in the Hall or online via ZOOM. Prices are £11 per person (£5.50 if from another Arts Society)

For visitors to the Hall just turn up on the day and pay the fee by card at the Welcome Desk.

For online access via Zoom. if you are not already on our mailing list, please apply via the Zoom scheme or email hambleton@theartssociety.org to receive the unstructions to pay and subsequent links. If you are a regular visitor on our mailing list you will receive notice of the meeting with a link to pay by credit card, which when complete then sends you the Zoom links by return

THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Mr Ashley Gray

Ashley Gray is a leading specialist and curator in the key art discipline of Modern Textiles and their history. He is a regular vetter at international fine art fairs and served on the Fair Committees of BADA, The Works on Paper Fair and on the BADA Council. He is regularly invited to lecture on the subject both in the UK and the US and sits on the advisory board of The Frances Neady Collection at FIT, New York. As a curator and archivist, he works with institutions and foundations on conservation and exhibition projects; most recently as co-curator of Material Textile: Modern British Female Designers’ and Material Textile: Creativity, History & Process, both with Messums Gallery, Common Thread at New Art Centre and From Bauhaus to our House at Cromwell Place. He also curates the acclaimed exhibition Styled by Design that celebrates the innovation of Modernist textile design alongside a comprehensive lecture programme that accompanies the exhibitions.

GALLERY