Illustration: Duncan Grant rug design 1913
Rug design may not immediately come to mind when thinking of the British twentieth century fine artist Duncan Grant, but he was involved, admittedly sometimes in an often minimal and oblique way, with the Omega Workshops project of Roger Fry.
From some of the images shown here, and links to others, it is obvious to see that Grant along with his lifelong friend Vanessa Bell, were acutely aware of, and deeply involved in the new European abstract ideas being developed not only in fine art, but also at the leading edge of the decorative arts world.
Whether any of Grant's rug design work actually made it to the production stage is hard to tell. Some pieces, such as the music stool cover shown in this article, were produced, and at least on a small, limited and often singular scale, the work of the European abstract school did begin to leak into the British consciousness, at least to the select friends of the Omega Workshops who were probably already willing to accept the new proposals from Europe. The population as a whole was still not convinced and even though Roger Fry publicised the Omega Workshops to great effect, with even some London stores being supplied by the Workshops, the overall attitude of the public towards the revolutionary decorative products sold by the Omega, was one of novelty and fashionable transience.
Illustration: Duncan Grant music stool cover
Grant himself was no more than a passing participant in Fry's European idea of treating the decorative arts as being at one with that of fine art. He was above all a fine artist by training and nature. His music stool cover lends little to the ideas of the decorative arts being as important and as relevant as fine art. The stool cover seems as if a canvas still life had been transposed in order to feature as a practical decorative accessory, rather than judged from the start as a design or art piece in its own right. However, the two rug designs also shown in this article seem to have a much more succinct understanding of both floor to rug scale and the simple dynamics of scale, pattern and tone that effect whether a rug will be a successful addition, and sometimes even focus, of a decorated interior.
It would be interesting to ponder what would have happened to both the Omega Workshops and the cooperation of fine artists such as Duncan Grant, if the First World War had not taken place. The Omega Workshops suffered severely from both lack of materials and artists and designers during the war. When the war finally ended, the Workshops ceased to trade because of the near bankruptcy of Britain and the complete lack of ready money by consumers after a devastating European war. Perhaps Fry would have been able to maintain the Workshops and though Grant and others would eventually have concentrated on their fine art careers, they may well have supplied Fry with regular design work throughout the following decade. What this would have meant for British influence in the decorative arts period of the 1920s, which was dominated by France, is anyone's guess.
Illustration: Duncan Grant rug design 1915
As well as the images of rugs designed by Grant that are shown in this article, there are also a couple of links to two other rug designs in colour by Grant. One has definitely been identified as being produced by Grant and can be found here, while the other is still debatable and could have been produced by either Grant or Vanessa Bell, it can be found here. Both images are part of the Art & Architecture arm of The Courtauld Institute.
Further reading links:
Duncan Grant: A Biography
Art Of Duncan Grant
DUNCAN GRANT & VANESSA BELL: DESIGN AND DECORATION 1910-1960
Duncan Grant and the Bloomsbury Group
Bloomsbury Portraits: Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Their Circle
The Art of Bloomsbury: Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant
With Duncan Grant in Southern Turkey
Duncan Grant (The Penguin modern painters)
Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of The Omega Workshops
The Omega Workshops
Omega Workshops, 1913-19
The Omega Workshops: Alliance and enmity in English art, 1911-1920 : Anthony d'Offay Gallery
Omega Cuts: Woodcuts and Linocuts by Artists Associated with the Omega Workshops and the Hogarth Press
Omega Workshops
