The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Eileen Grey: rug designs

Eileen Grey: rug designs
Eileen Grey: rug designs
Irish by birth, Eileen Gray spent the better part of her life in France, dying in 1976 at the age of 98 largely unrecognized for contribution she made to modern architecture. But in recent years new enthusiasm and interest has grown around Gray’s work, which included only two realized architectural projects but many studies, as well as furniture and rug designs. Nonetheless, examples of Gray’s work remain scarce. Libby Sellers, curator of the current Eileen Gray exhibition at the Design Museum in London admits that the challenge in elevating Gray to what many now consider to be her rightful position in design history lies in “a general lack of information on most of her designs due to the various unfortunate consequences of her career.” Sellers suggests that many fates conspired to keep Gray’s talent shrouded in obscurity, from her nationality – or more precisely the lack of a clear one – and her gender to the second world war and, ironically, the transitional space between art historical movements that her work occupies: “As a woman working in male dominated fields, the importance of her influential discoveries and forward thinking solutions, were often negated by her male contemporaries. As an Anglo-Irish émigré who lived the majority of her 98 years in Paris – the French, Irish, and British all stake claims on her legacy and her archives have been split between all three countries. As a designer who bridged the distinct worlds of Art Deco and Modernism, design historians falter as to how best to classify her. And as a designer working between the two world wars, many of her original designs were destroyed, stolen or looted from her houses.”
Hemmings, Jessica
21e2ab3b-386a-46c2-8be2-12c78fe4cc22
Hemmings, Jessica
21e2ab3b-386a-46c2-8be2-12c78fe4cc22

Hemmings, Jessica (2006) Eileen Grey: rug designs. Modern Carpets and Textiles, 1 (1 (Winter)).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Irish by birth, Eileen Gray spent the better part of her life in France, dying in 1976 at the age of 98 largely unrecognized for contribution she made to modern architecture. But in recent years new enthusiasm and interest has grown around Gray’s work, which included only two realized architectural projects but many studies, as well as furniture and rug designs. Nonetheless, examples of Gray’s work remain scarce. Libby Sellers, curator of the current Eileen Gray exhibition at the Design Museum in London admits that the challenge in elevating Gray to what many now consider to be her rightful position in design history lies in “a general lack of information on most of her designs due to the various unfortunate consequences of her career.” Sellers suggests that many fates conspired to keep Gray’s talent shrouded in obscurity, from her nationality – or more precisely the lack of a clear one – and her gender to the second world war and, ironically, the transitional space between art historical movements that her work occupies: “As a woman working in male dominated fields, the importance of her influential discoveries and forward thinking solutions, were often negated by her male contemporaries. As an Anglo-Irish émigré who lived the majority of her 98 years in Paris – the French, Irish, and British all stake claims on her legacy and her archives have been split between all three countries. As a designer who bridged the distinct worlds of Art Deco and Modernism, design historians falter as to how best to classify her. And as a designer working between the two world wars, many of her original designs were destroyed, stolen or looted from her houses.”

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2006

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 41194
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/41194
PURE UUID: a57a5d5a-61ee-4ced-87f7-99f999a1f616

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 01 Aug 2006
Last modified: 11 Dec 2021 15:52

Export record

Contributors

Author: Jessica Hemmings

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×