Textile with Brushes and Broom
In 1916 the Providence Manufacturing Company, from West Warwick, had changed their name to Crompton-Richmond, Incorporated. Originally the company had specialised in producing everyday work fabrics such as corduroy. However, in 1936 they moved their selling department to New York City, from where they were able to focus much more on fashion-led textiles.
Warhol’s elevation of the everyday, taking ordinary household objects such as brushes and brooms and presenting them in his own unique way, very much informed the Pop art he produced in the early 1960s.
Artwork: © 2023 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London.
Photo: © Fashion and Textile Museum.
Textile with Acrobatic Clowns and Horses
The origins of this pattern can be traced back to a group of Christmas cards Warhol designed for Robert MacGregor of New Directions Publishing in 1951.
Several related drawings by Warhol survive, which give several versions of the design for the textile.
The drawings range from studies of figures in acrobatic motion to repeat versions of the clown taken from this textile. Like many of Warhol’s textiles, the design is a border print that is supposed to be read in a sequence. In this case, the clown somersaults from horse to horse around the edge of the skirt.
Artwork: © 2023 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London.
Photo: © Fashion and Textile Museum.
Textile with Ice Cream Cones
Between 1962 and 1963 it is believed that Warhol sold his last three known commercial textiles to the Stehli Silks Corporation. Visually, this textile of large-scale ice cream cones is the most dramatic, with the play of the various brightly coloured cones demanding one’s attention. At least five colourways are known. Two are printed on silk, the first in pink and blue and the second in purple and green, each with a white ground. The other three, printed on polyester, have red, lilac, and black backgrounds. The two silk versions are on a much larger scale than the ones on polyester.
Artwork: © 2023 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London.
Photo: © Fashion and Textile Museum.
Happy Butterfly Day
‘Happy Butterfly Day’ is almost certainly based on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century displays of mounted butterflies. The butterfly motif seems to have been a particularly happy expression of well-being for Warhol. Similar designs were also created by him for greetings cards and stationery. The textile is realised in subtle pastel shades, in contrast to Warhol’s more usual palette of brilliant primary and secondary colours.
Although the manufacturer of this textile is still unknown, among the makers and retailers using it was The Needlecraft, an upmarket fashion retailer located on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Whenever the film star Elizabeth Taylor visited Atlantic City, she always made a special visit to this store.
Artwork: © 2023 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London.
Photo: © Fashion and Textile Museum.
Textile with Perfume and Scent Bottles
Warhol drew many bottles of perfume throughout the 1950s, so it is hardly a surprise that he designed a textile inspired by them. The bottles grouped together here make an icon out of the subject, but not without some irony since bottles marked ‘Fanel No. 6’ are clearly a send-up of Chanel No. 5.
Some of Warhol’s more important commissions for perfumes and cosmetics came from Harper’s Bazaar, which offered limited-edition, specially curated ‘Beauty Boxes’, frequently illustrated by Warhol.
Artwork: © 2023 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London.
Photo: © Fashion and Textile Museum.