Book Description

'Enid Marx: Design' is a completely new collection of the printed and woven textile design patterns of Enid Marx (1902-1998), encompassing examples of her work for the London Underground, Royal Mail and Chatto and Windus Publishers; extraordinarily versatile and prolific, she became uniquely defined as a pattern maker, using textiles, paper and plastic in a way that was completely original, and while centred in the times that she was living and working, her designs enjoyed an amazing longevity of mass appeal. She was equally at home wood engraving or drawing for print making, end papers, book jackets, book illustrations and for stamp design. Outside her own design activities her major interest lay with popular or folk art. Together with her companion, Margaret Lambert, she wrote articles and books on the subject and amassed a considerable collection of artefacts, which are now lodged at Compton Verney, Warwickshire. When asked in old age if there was anything she wished she had done, she replied that she would liked to have instigated a Folk Art Museum; taking into account the wealth of work that she produced over her life that very much reflected and found fame in the commonplace, among the ordinary and the everyday, it would seem that she may have achieved that ambition, almost without trying. AUTHOR: Ruth Artmonsky trained as a psychologist. On her retirement from her associate directorship of a leading psychometric consultancy she ran a small art gallery. She has written and published a number of books on British mid-20th century art. Brian Webb is a designer and visiting Professor at the University of the Arts London. SELLING POINTS: An excellent introduction to the work of celebrated designer Enid Marx, this is the first book about her and her patternmaking Perhaps best remembered for her textile designs especially those for London Transport buses and trains, in use for over thirty years - Marx was one of only a handful of women elected Royal Designer of Industry, and the only one, of either sex, to have the epithet pattern maker attached to her award 150 colour illustrations