Alexis Buchanan
Consultant
Lot 539†
Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, OBE RA RSA RSW RGI DLitt (British, born 1931) ' Irises II '
29 – 30 August 2012, 11:00 BST
Edinburgh£12,000 - £18,000
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Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, OBE RA RSA RSW RGI DLitt (British, born 1931)
' Irises II '
From The Dovecot Studio,
A hand woven wool tapestry wall hanging, signed lower right, the reverse with the following intails of the weavers: SG FM and SC and a stylised dove
179 x 193 cms
From The Dovecot Studio,
A hand woven wool tapestry wall hanging, signed lower right, the reverse with the following intails of the weavers: SG FM and SC and a stylised dove
179 x 193 cms
Footnotes
The weavers of this tapestry are: Shirley Gatt, Fred Mann and probably Sam Clark.
Dovecot Studios is a one hundred year old, Edinburgh based, tapestry studio. Born out of the British arts and crafts movement, and inspired by the William Morris Craft Studio; Dovecot was founded in 1912 by the Marquess of Bute.
The ethos behind the creation of Dovecot was an intention to emulate the London craft workshops as opposed to manufacturing companies and as such be more tied to local culture. Alongside this there was a strong desire to create equality between designers and weavers. This desire is something which all Dovecot tapestries, in part due to the inclusion of the weaver's signature, continue to demonstrate.
In 1954 Dovecot Studios was taken over by a new board of directors, renamed the Edinburgh Tapestry Company and began working on a greater number of commercial commissions. Later, in large part, due to the renewed interest of the Bute family in the 1970s and 80s there was a resurgence in the prosperity of the company until its eventual end upon the death of the sixth Marquess. However, the studio was reopened again in 2003 by two of the previous company's artist-weavers and has entered another prosperous phase in its long history.
Other artists who have worked at the Dovecot Studios include: David Hockney, Paul Gaugin, Peter Blake, Graham Sutherland and Eduardo Paolozzi. An exhibition to celebrate the studio, curated by Dr. Elizabeth Cumming, 'Weaving the Century:Tapestry from Dovecot Studios 1912-2012 opens in Edinburgh this summer and runs from 13th July-7th October.