Peter Collingwood, unique wall hanging for Sir Gordon Russell, 1959. Blockweave, hand-dyed Wilton wool, genappe yarn, Icelandic worsted wool and vat-dyed mercerised linen in over 60 colors.
“I had no sketch to follow and made all decisions about the design as I went along. But also as I went along I sketched to scale what I had woven… Although I had over sixty colours I used two or three together, the actual combinations used were far greater in number and they were changing every few inches in both the blocks and the ground… It was for me a real excitement to put this almost barbaric pink against the brightest orange-red – it made the optic nerves dance a jig. In fact, throughout, my object was so to combine the colours that they glowed. This can only be done if all muddy colours are excluded. Only pure colours have the power to produce this effect, when seen in isolation these colours may be called crude by some but when placed together appropriately they react on each other and produce this exciting glow. There is an element of dissonance in this sort of combination, that touch of dissonance that puts the excitement into a Debussy chord that is lacking in an English Hymnal chord.”
From The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers.
Design is fine. History is mine. 