Ann Macbeth and Rug Design

Illustration: Ann Macbeth. Rug design, 1905.

Ann Macbeth is well known as an embroidery designer, teacher and author. She succeeded Jessie Newbery as head of the embroidery department at Glasgow School of art and was a pivotal member of the later Glasgow movement headed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald. She was also the author of a number of popular and influential books mostly concerned with the practical aspects of embroidery, needlework and dressmaking. These books are listed in the reference links section at the end of this article.

However, as the illustration above shows, she was also interested in a number of other aspects of textile design and in this case that of rug design. It is often hard to appreciate or even discover, how wide ranging and inquisitive many artists and designers have been through their individual creative careers. It is often the case that individuals are tagged with a descriptive heading so that their work is then encased inside that description and any work in other mediums is trivialised or ignored.

This is not to say that this rug produced by Macbeth in 1905 is unknown. However, it does reflect a certain amount of pigeon-holing, whereby the broad and general work of an artist or designer can be manipulated and engineered so that aspects that could possibly reveal another dimension to that individual are seen as superficial, when in fact these examples of work outside of the usual remit can say much about the creative direction or journey of that individual.

Illustration: Ann Macbeth, 1900.

The actual design of the rug looks very different from what we would expect from Ann Macbeth. As far as embroidery was concerned, part of her work was very much locked into the style of the Glasgow School with typical Mackintosh rose motifs being used repeatedly. However, there was also a much more personal and flowing style that she tended to reserve for work that used fairy tale imagery as compositional narrative.

There is little abstract geometrically conceived ideas in her work so it would be interesting to know where the idea for this rug originated. It would be a fair guess to say that it could well have derived from a study of original and traditional carpet design from Middle or Central Asia. This was a relatively common practise at the time and was not considered plagiarism as such, but conceived to be more of a study of a traditional design in order to understand the way that design works, and perhaps even gain a little understanding as to thinking behind the original designer. This could well be the case with this example as it looks as if it is possibly an enlarged version of a single motif. However, this is only supposition and not fact, it could well have been an original idea entirely, or a partial inspiration from a traditional carpet.

Either way it is interesting to see the expansion that some artists and designers have made into other genres and mediums and how they interpreted and even reinterpreted their own ideas as to design and decoration given the different parameters that were present in seemingly unfamiliar mediums.

Further reading links:
Educational Needlecraft (1911)
The country woman's rug book (Paragraph Press reprint series of craft & hobby handbooks)
SCHOOL AND FIRESIDE CRAFTS
Embroidered and laced leather work
The playwork book
Glasgow Girls
The Flower and the Green Leaf: Glasgow School of Art in the Time of Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Textile Treasures at the Glasgow School of Art
The unbroken thread: A century of embroidery & weaving at Glasgow School of Art
GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART EMBROIDERY, 1894-1920.
Glasgow School of Art: The History
Glasgow School of Art: a History
The Glasgow Style: Artists in the Decorative Arts, Circa 1900 (Schiffer Book with Values)
Hand, Heart and Soul: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Scotland

The Pazyryk Rug

Illustration: The Pazyryk rug, c500bc.

The Pazyryk rug is the oldest surviving example of a complete rug discovered so far. It was probably produced in the 5th century BC by the nomadic Scythian people and was discovered by the Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko in a Scythian burial mound in the late 1940s.

The rug itself was probably a funereal item and could well have been woven for that specific purpose and so was probably never used. The grave was that of a prince and so the rug itself would probably have been of the highest standard that was available at the time.

The rug is nearly symmetrical in shape with the length being slightly longer than the width, the actual measurements of the rug being 2m x 1.83m. The design is made up of concentric squares separated by various borders. The central panel is made up of what is assumed to be symbols that represent the sun. This is surrounded by a border of winged griffins, which is then in turn surrounded by another border filled with antlered deer. There is then a small border of abstract floral motifs, which is then followed by a border of horses being alternately led and ridden by their riders. This border has the horses travelling in the opposite direction to that of the earlier antlered deer. There is then a final border of winged griffins, which then completes the rug.

Like many traditional carpets and indeed many forms of textile, symbolism is abundant and can often be either misinterpreted or misunderstood. For example, the griffins are often thought to represent some form of guardian whether in life or the after life, while stags can represent wisdom and long life. However, we will probably never fully understand the symbolism involved within the pattern of the rug.

Illustration: The Pazyryk rug, close-up, c500bc.

Interestingly, the rug itself was preserved due to the grave being robbed at some point in the past. Because the seal of the grave was opened, moisture got into the grave goods and the rug was frozen into a solid ball of ice, thus preserving it until its rediscovery by Sergei Rudenko.

The discovery of the Pazyryk rug caused a sensation at the time and has changed our perception of the history of woven rug design. It had long been thought that early rugs and carpets would have been fairly primitive in both construction and design, so it came as a surprise to find a rug over 2500 years old that had this level of sophistication and finish. It was also discovered that the rug was constructed using the traditional Turkish knotting system, which strongly implies that the nomadic Turkish tribes who occupied central Asia two millennia ago, share an unbroken tradition of rug making with that of more modern traditions.

The sophistication of the Pazyryk rug informs us that a high level of design and construction had been achieved by the 5th century BC. It would have taken generations to achieve this level, which implies that this level of rug making must go back much further than the 5th century.

The rug itself is now housed and fully displayed at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. There are also good reproductions of the original design that are available to buy. The best one that I have come across can be found online at The Magic Carpet, an image of which is shown below. It gives a good indication of the high standard that was achieved by the makers of the original Pazyryk rug.

Illustration: The Pazyryk rug. The Magic Carpet, Nevada City, California.

Further reading links:
Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
The Magic Carpet
The pazyryk: A 2500 years old knotted rug found in an icegrave in the Altai, its uses and origin
Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron-Age Horsemen
Archaeological Collections of the Hermitage: Pazyryk Burials, Egyptian Collection of the Hermitage Museum, Pereshchepina Treasure, Kul-Oba
Kurgans: Pazyryk Burials, Kurgan, Noin-Ula Kurgans, Mamayev Kurgan, Merheleva Ridge, Kul-Oba, Thracian Tomb of Aleksandrovo Kurgan, Black Grave
Scythians: Anacharsis, Pazyryk Burials, Indo-Scythians, Kharahostes, Apracaraja Indravarman's Silver Reliquary, Tocharians, Saka, Kamuia
Costume and Textiles Pazyryks Altai. / Kostyum i textil pazyryktsev Altaya.
The Pazyryk felt screen and the barbarian captivity of Ts'ai Wên Chi
Ancient Horsemen Of Siberia (Time Travelers)

Alfred Vaino Blomstedt and Rug Design

Illustration: A V Blomstedt. Horses rug, 1900.

At the turn of the twentieth century, there were a number of artists in Finland who produced both contemporary and traditionally sourced tapestry and rug design work; among these were Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Timo Sarpaneva and Alfred Vaino Blomstedt.

Blomstedt was a trained fine artist who had studied both in Finland and in Paris, but he was also an illustrator, designer and textile artist. His work within textiles was chiefly concentrated within the medium of tapestry production, though he did produce a number of rug designs as well.

Rug production was considered part of the traditional culture of Finland and was resuscitated within the Finnish Arts & Crafts movement. Finland did not gain its independence from Russia until the end of the First World War. Therefore, any highlighting of traditional skills was considered patriotic within Finland, but potentially dangerous political stirring within the Russian Empire as a whole.

The Friends of Finnish Handicraft, in which Blomstedt served as artistic director from 1900 onwards, was intimately involved in the Finnish rediscovery of their traditional culture through native crafts. Admittedly, not all rug production within Finland could be considered authentic to old traditions, but the romantic ideal of a separate Finnish culture from that of Russia, appealed to many within Finnish society and a number were more than happy to buy into the traditions, whether real or partially imaginary.

Although Blomstedt is more recognised today for his Symbolist inspired fine art work, the output he achieved in tapestry and rug design, cannot be dismissed. Working through the Friends of Finnish Handicraft with numerous other artists, designers and crafts people, Blomstedt helped to put Finnish self-determination on the agenda, and although considered an integral part of the Russian Empire, the Finns were able to mould a separate identity for themselves that put them in stead when they did eventually win their independence.

Further reading links:
The golden age: Finnish art, 1850 to 1907
Bringing Art to Life: Turn-of-the-Century Finnish Artists' Homes
Finnish design 1875-1975: 100 years of Finnish industrial design : Finnish Society of Crafts and Design 1875-1975
Scandinavian Design (Taschen 25)
Finland Living Design
Finnish Arts
Finnish Summer Houses
Finnish Design: Facts and Fancy
Kalevala Koru: Ancient Finnish design
Finland: Nature, Design, Architecture
THE LANGUAGE OF WOOD; Wood in Finnish Sculpture, Design and Architecture 

Donegal Carpets

In 1898 the Scottish textile company Alexander Morton & Co founded a hand woven rug factory in County Donegal, Ireland. This was to become the well-known Donegal Carpet Company. From its first launch, the company employed the very best and most fashionable designers of the day, including the likes of Walter Crane, Jessie Newbery, Mackay Baillie Scott and Charles Francis Annesley Voysey.

Because of the extensive contact network already established by Morton & Co, Donegal Carpets were able to sell their fashionable Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts style rugs and carpets at such prestigious outlets as Liberty & Co in London and Gustav Stickley's Craftsman showrooms in Boston and New York.

The carpets and rugs produced by the company were extremely popular with the fashion conscious middle classes on both sides of the Atlantic. The company had everything going for it. The designs were by some of the most fashionable designers of the day, they were all in vibrant colours, and they were in bold, contemporary styles.

One of the most prolific designers for Donegal Carpets was C F A Voysey. Voysey and Alexander Morton had formed a close working partnership. They were both of Irish origin, both had a passion for design and textiles in particular, and above all, an overriding interest in producing the best quality, contemporary textile design work that was possible.

Interestingly, the original concept for the idea of a hand woven rug factory had come from Liberty & Co. The retail company had approached Alexander Morton with the idea of producing carpets at a cheaper rate than Morris & Co one of the main suppliers of art style carpets in Britain. Morton was amenable and with the help of Liberty, Voysey and some financial backing from the British Government, Donegal Carpets was established. The west of Ireland was chosen for the abundance of cheap labour.

Liberty's initial suggestion had created a company that, by its very nature, was in direct competition with Morris & Co. There is a possibility that Liberty's approached Morton in order to help widen the market. By encouraging competition with Morris & Co, Liberty might have hoped for a form of price war between the two companies, with Liberty the eventual winner.

However, what did happen is that Donegal carpets retailed, for a number of reasons, at less than half the price of Morris's carpets and quickly squeezed Morris out of the middle class market, leaving Donegal Carpets to dominate while Morris & Co retreated to the higher end of the market.

All the carpets shown here were designed by Voysey and produced by Donegal Carpets. They are mostly in what would be classed as an Art Nouveau style, not dissimilar in many respects to those designed by William Morris.

However, Voysey's designs gave the appearance of being much more fashionable and contemporary looking than Morris's work. This no doubt has much to do with the general interest at the beginning of the twentieth century in designs derived from Celtic motifs and styles, in which Voysey's work, though not entirely devoted to the style, does bare certain similarities. It would also have helped the ambience of the product that the carpets were being produced on the west coast of Ireland a percieved traditional stronghold of Celtic culture. This no doubt helped when marketing the carpets at such outlets as Liberty & Co, which had already cornered the market in Celtic styled interior accessories.

From the start Alexander Morton was determined that Donegal carpets would be a high quality production. He hoped to draw comparisons with the best in Turkish and Persian carpet production, though there was always a concerted effort not to produce copies of these styles which would always have been but pale imitations.

By marrying the best of British contemporary designers with the best in traditional carpet weaving techniques, Donegal carpets assured itself a prestigious place in the history of European carpet design.

Further reading links: 
A Donegal Carpet Designed by Gavin Morton and G.K. Robertson, Circa 1900 Artists Giclee Poster Print by Adler & Sullivan , 9x12
A Donegal Carpet Designed by Gavin Morton and G.K. Robertson, Circa 1900 Giclee Poster Print by Adler & Sullivan , 24x32
Donegal Carpets Film
Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D: From the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College, Dublin
Irish Art and Architecture: From Prehistory to the Present
Irish Art: A Concise History (World of Art)
Early Christian Irish Art
The Golden Age of Irish Art: The Medieval Achievement, 600-1200
British And Irish Home Arts And Industries 1880-1914: Marketing Craft, Making Fashion
Studies in Early Christian and Medieval Irish Art, Volume III: Sculpture and Architecture