Setting out to celebrate document & discuss the work & role of an international tapestry workshop Dovecot Studios since its foundation in Edinburgh in 1912 this ground-breaking publication uniquely explores the artistic value nature & identity of modern tapestry through images essays & the commentaries of weavers artists & patrons. Dovecot Studios has constantly evolved since it was established before the Great War. Initial Arts & Crafts ideals developed into a more proactive engagement with modernism from the 1950s when designs came from leading British artists such as Graham Sutherland Henry Moore Stanley Spencer Cecil Beaton & John Piper. In the 1960s international ambition partnered a quest for experimentation as characterised by collaborations with artists such as Eduardo Paolozzi David Hockney Robert Motherwell & Louise Nevelson. Throughout Dovecots long history many Scottish artists have worked with the tapestry studio & their intuitive sense of design & colour has often been richly matched by the imagination of the artist weavers. Experiment & partnership with innovative artists & makers have been & actively remain key to Dovecots unique position within the fields of craft & contemporary art. Discussing Dovecots history along with its contemporary work & exploring the range of textiles produced by the Studio
- which include wall hangings chair-cover designs carpets textile mobiles & formal robes
- The Art of Modern Tapestry offers the definitive account of one of the worlds most innovative centres of textile-art production.