New Course Year Course Programme 2016–17 Textiles: Ancient to Modern
Thursdays, 22 September 2016 – 13 July 2017 (over 3 terms) 11.10–15.30 (Each term includes optional gallery talks, commencing at 10.00 and repeated at 15.30)
In our throw-away world where dress and furnishings quickly go out of fashion and are relatively inexpensive to replace, they are often seen as transient accessories to our lives but throughout history textiles have been the most obvious expression of our personal values. Lustrous silk, crisp linen, soft wool and brightly coloured cotton clothe our bodies and decorate our homes. Although patterned textiles are the most intimate form of decorative art because we wear them next to our skin and they move and breathe with us, how well do we know them?
Become familiar with textiles in all their glory by examining techniques and designs from around the world and exploring how they have been used in Europe to produce an infinite variety of fabrics and patterns. See the different ways in which textiles can be studied and learn about the many skills required to create the sumptuous textiles in the V&A, from enormous tapestries to gossamer-like webs of lace, from glittering embroidery to muted tweeds. See how technique limits the creativity of a designer and be amazed at the ingenuity of engineers and artists who, from the classical world to the present day, have extended the boundaries of what is possible.
Course Director: Jennifer Wearden was Senior Curator of Textiles in the Department of Furniture, Textiles & Fashion until 2005 and is now an Honorary Research Fellow in the V&A. With experience of the textile industry in Lancashire and 28 years working with the textile collections in the V&A, she now uses her knowledge to teach and for the past six years has devised and delivered some highly successful textile courses for the Museum. She has co-authored several popular V&A books including Samplers (1999), Ottoman Embroidery (2001), Dress in Detail from around the World (2002), Oriental Carpets and their Techniques (2003) and Iranian Textiles (2010) Other Lecturers: - Dr Susan Kay-Williams, Royal School of Needlework - Professor Gale R Owen-Crocker, University of Manchester - Anna Jackson, V&A - Dr Susan Whitfield, British Library - Sue Pritchard, Royal Museums Greenwich - Dr Lesley Miller, V&A - Helen Wolfe, British Museum - Dr Wolfe Burchard, National Trust - Dr Jennifer Harris, The Whitworth Museum - Jennifer Scarce, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design University of Dundee Autumn Term Programme & Dates: Textiles: Ancient to Modern Thursdays, 22 September – 8 December 2016
The World up to 1600
Textiles are so very fragile, even the most it explores what is known about sturdy is vulnerable to wear and tear, to archaeological textiles from Central Asia damage by insects, by dampness, even by and around the Eastern Mediterranean. the light we need to see them. They fade, they rot, they are often fabrics of great These textiles were of great importance beauty but they do not last and there is and were traded across the Classical nothing remaining to demonstrate the world, setting the stage for a theme textile skills of our very ancient which will be explored through the rest ancestors. However, with the of the course: how technologies and development of archaeology and where designs spread around the globe. Moving favourable conditions have allowed into the Middle Ages, our knowledge of textiles to survive, albeit as fragments, textiles increases from our study of we are getting glimpses of what was documents, paintings and actual pieces being woven and worn in more recent and we see a second theme emerging, times. The first term begins with an how textiles were used to express status introduction to fibres, structures and and prestige. dyes and, with this foundation in place,
22 September 6 October Fibres and Ancient Textiles The Ancient and Classical World 10.45 Introduction to the course 11.10 Textiles in Pharaonic Egypt Jennifer Wearden Amandine Mérat 11.10 Skin, Fur and Feathers 12.15 Early Textiles and What We Learn Jennifer Wearden from Them 12.15 Trees, Grass, Seeds and Minerals Dr Margarita Gleba Jennifer Wearden 14.30 Textiles at Masada 14.30 Animal Fibres Hero Granger-Taylor Jennifer Wearden 13 October 29 September Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean Techniques and Textiles 11.10 Late Antique Egyptian Textiles 11.10 Spinning and Looping Amandine Mérat Jennifer Wearden 12.15 The Silk Road 12.15 Weaving Dr Susan Whitfield Jennifer Wearden 14.30 Textiles in the Byzantine World 14.30 Dyeing up to 16th century Hero Granger-Taylor Dr Susan Kay-Williams 20 October 17 November The ‘Dark Ages’ and the Middle Ages Late Middle Ages/Renaissance 11.10 Textiles as Women’s Work 11.10 All That Glitters: Cloth of Gold as Professor Gale R Owen-Crocker a Vehicle for Display: 1400–1600 12.15 Anglo-Saxon Textiles and Dress Lisa Monnas Professor Gale R Owen-Crocker 12.15 Between Court and City: Tapestries of 14.30 The Bayeux Tapestry the Burgundian Dominions 1363–1477 Professor Gale R Owen-Crocker Dr Katherine Wilson 14.30 Textiles and Tournaments 27 October under the Tudor Kings Textile Trade Professor Maria Hayward 11.10 Trading in Fur in the Early Middle Ages 24 November Dr James Howard-Johnston Carpets 12.15 Early Indian Textiles and Trade 11.10 Eastern Carpets in Western Paintings Dr Steven Cohen Jennifer Wearden 14.30 Cloth in England’s Later 12.15 Carpet Knotting Techniques Medieval Trade Jennifer Wearden Professor Wendy Childs 14.30 Designing a Carpet Jennifer Wearden 3 November The Middle Ages: Part 1 1 December 10.00 Gallery Talk: Early Textiles in the V&A The Renaissance 11.10 Silks and Embroideries 10.00 Gallery Talk: Carpets Jennifer Wearden 11.10 The Epitome of Elegance: 12.15 Tapestries Renaissance Velvets Jennifer Wearden Lisa Monnas 14.30 Textiles and Clothing in 12.15 Textiles in Renaissance Paintings London 1150–1450 Lisa Monnas Frances Pritchard 14.30 Renaissance Transformations: Italian Textiles and Interiors 10 November Dr Jane Bridgeman The Middle Ages: Part 2 10.00 Gallery Talk: Tapestries 8 December 11.10 Church Vestments East and West Jennifer Wearden 11.10 An Introduction to Ming Textiles: 12.15 Opus Anglicanum Their History and Design Jennifer Wearden Jacqueline Simcox 14.30 Italian Medieval Silks 12.15 Textiles and the cut of clothes Lisa Monnas Jennifer Wearden 14.30 Textiles of Mughal India Dr Steven Cohen Spring Term Programme & Dates: Textiles: Ancient to Modern Thursdays, 12 January – 30 March 2017
The Age of Exploitation: 1500–1800
This term covers three centuries during It was also a period of great social and which European knowledge of the world economic change. The introduction of expanded and empires rose and prospered. cotton in the 18th century and the The major themes of this term are development of textile printing exploration and exploitation, with growing revolutionised the use of patterned awareness of new natural resources, new textiles, making them no longer the techniques and new designs. England preserve of the super-rich. We begin to began to play a major role, developing a know more about the textile possessions remarkable artistic personality beautifully of moderately affluent people and more expressed in its embroidery. It was not about domestic needlework, not only averse to adopting ideas from other embroidery but patchwork and quilting, cultures or poaching skilled workmen from and we begin to see the effects of the other countries. It was a period of great Industrial Revolution. rivalry between countries for trade and for the control of foreign lands.
12 January 26 January 16th Century Europe 17th Century Style 11.10 Linen and the Plague: 11.10 The Effects of the Reformation on medical beliefs surrounding linen in the Nature of Domestic Decoration the period prior to 1600 and Furnishings Dr Susan North Dr Tara Hamling 12.15 Textiles and Dress at the Tudor Court 12.15 The Weaving of Power: Professor Maria Hayward Charles Le Brun and the Gobelins 14.30 Embroidered with Woodbine and Tapestry Manufactory Eglantine – Elizabethan Textile Dr Wolf Burchard Furnishings 14.30 The Eye of the Needle Dr Gillian White Dr Mary Brooks
19 January 2 February 16th and 17th Centuries Overseas Asia and Europe 11.10 Pre-Hispanic Textiles in Central and 11.10 Indian Chintz South America Rosemary Crill Helen Wolfe 12.15 The Principles of Embroidery 12.15 How to Dress Well in Isfahan – the Jennifer Wearden Clothes and Textiles of Safavid Iran 14.30 Chinoiserie and Crewel Work Jennifer Scarce Jennifer Wearden 14.30 Suleyman the Magnificent and Ottoman Textiles Jennifer Wearden 9 February 9 March Hand-Made Textiles in 17th and 18th Centuries Printing and Dyeing 11.10 Lace 11.10 Block-Printing and William Kilburn Jennifer Wearden Jennifer Wearden 12.15 Knitting 12.15 Plate Printing, Roller-Printing, Dr Susan North Discharge Printing 14.30 Tapestries Jennifer Wearden Jennifer Wearden 14.30 Indigo Dr Jenny Balfour-Paul 16 February 18th Century Silks 16 March 10.00 Gallery Talk: 17th and 18th Century Other Traditions Embroidery and Lace 10.00 Gallery Talk: Printed Textiles 11.10 The Painted Designs of James Leman 11.10 Resist-Dyeing: Bandhana and Ikat and Anna Maria Garthwaite Rosemary Crill Jennifer Wearden 12.15 Greek Island Embroidery 12.15 18th Century French Silks Jennifer Wearden Dr Lesley Miller 14.30 Jewish Textiles 14.30 The Huguenots and Spitalfield Silks Jennifer Wearden Mary Schoeser 23 March 23 February Domestic Needlework 18th Century 11.10 Quilting, Patchwork and Appliqué 11.10 Foundling Textiles Sue Prichard Jennifer Wearden 12.15 Textiles in Colonial America 12.15 Cotton in the 18th Century Jennifer Wearden Professor Giorgio Riello 14.30 Embroidered Samplers 14.30 Rivalry Between the English Jennifer Wearden and Dutch East India Companies in the Textile Trade 30 March Dr Chris Nierstrasz Neo-Classicism 11.10 The Neo-Classical Revolution 2 March in Textiles and Dress 18th Century Jennifer Wearden 10.00 Gallery Talk: 18th Century Silks 12.15 Muslin and Whitework 11. 10 Barbara Johnson’s Album Jennifer Wearden and King Cotton 14.30 Kashmir Shawls in the West Jennifer Wearden Rosemary Crill 12. 15 Trading Textiles Around the World Jennifer Wearden 14.30 Silks for Fashionable Dress Dr Susan North Summer Term Programme & Dates: Textiles: Ancient to Modern Thursdays, 27 April – 13 July 2017
The Age of Mastery: 1750–the present
The final term goes back to the middle Against this background we see how of the 18th century, begins with the ethnographic studies brought non- Industrial Revolution and the mass- European textile traditions to the production of textiles and then considers attention of designers and how this how several influential designers reacted influenced and enriched commercial and against it, leading to the Arts and Crafts craft production. Modern manufacturing Movement and Art Nouveau. A constant processes have favoured printing, but supply of new textile designs was hand-woven and embroidered textiles required to meet the expectations of a and supremely skilled craftsmen have growing consumer society and in their ensured that some textiles remain true patterns we can trace how Europe was works of art. changing socially, scientifically and politically up to the outbreak of the Second World War.
27 April 11 May The Industrial Revolution Eastern Influences and Art Nouveau 11.10 The Industrial Revolution 10.00 Gallery Talk: The Arts & Crafts Dr Gillian Cookson Movement 12.15 Manufacturers’ and Merchants’ 11.10 Japanese Textiles Pattern Books Anna Jackson Dr Philip Sykas 12.15 Art Nouveau Textiles 14.30 Romanticism and European Clare Rose ‘Peasant’ Textiles 14.30 Silver Studio Textiles Jennifer Wearden Zoe Hendon
4 May 18 May New Movements Changing Times and Revolution 11.10 Gothic Revival 10.00 Gallery Talk: Art Nouveau and Mary Schoeser Art Deco 12.15 William Morris and the Arts & Crafts 11.10 Furnishings: 1850–1930 Movement in Britain and the US Jennifer Wearden Dr Jennifer Harris 12.15 Fashions and Textiles: 1900–1939 14.30 The Arts & Crafts Movement Jennifer Wearden on the Continent 14.30 The Board of Trade Design Registers: Dr Jennifer Harris 1839–1991 Dr Dinah Eastop 25 May 29 June Beyond Europe: Part 1 20th Century Hand-Made Textiles 11.10 Mexican and Guatemalan Textiles 10.00 Gallery Talk: Textile Highlights Chloë Sayer of the Recent Past 12.15 20th century Indian Textiles 11.10 Tapestries Divia Patel Jennifer Wearden 14.30 African Textiles 12.15 Couture Embroidery: Worth Onwards Dr Malika Kraamer Anthea Godfrey 14.30 Humphries Silk Weaving 1 June Richard Humphries Beyond Europe: Part 2 11.10 South East Asian Textiles in the V&A 6 July Sau Fong Chan Designers 12.15 Batik in Java and Sumatra 11.10 Designing Textiles for Liberty Dr Fiona Kerlogue Emma Mawston 14.30 The Islamic World 12.15 Designing Carpets for the World Jennifer Wearden John Bain 14.30 Artist and Designer Talking 8 June about Her Work Britain Ptolemy Mann 11.10 The Needlework Development Scheme 13 July Jennifer Wearden Art Textiles 12.15 British Craft Weavers and Printers 11.10 Artist Textiles Mary Schoeser Jennifer Wearden 14.30 British textile trade with Africa 12.15 Echoes of the Past Dr Nicola Stylianou Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn 14.30 Story Telling through Textiles 15 June Jennifer Wearden Britain in the 1950s 11.10 Zika Ascher and Tibor Reichs Sue Prichard 12.15 Textiles and Horrockses Fashions Dr Christine Boydell 14.30 The Festival of Britain, Lucienne Day and 50s Design Mary Schoeser
22 June The Last Fifty Years 11.10 The Fabric of Pop Michael Regan 12.15 Scandinavian Textiles Mary Schoeser 14.30 Modern Techniques in Textile Production Jennifer Wearden
The V&A reserves the right to alter the programme at short notice if circumstances make it necessary. If you are booking for a particular day please confirm the programme of the day with the V&A booking office a few days in advance. Course Fees £1950 per year, £1600 concessions £825 per term, £640 concessions £73 per day, £57 concessions External visits may incur additional costs.
This Year Course does not have a Certificate Option.
How to Book Book online at www.vam.ac.uk/whatson or call 020 7942 2211
Please note term tickets will be released 4 weeks before the start of each term and day tickets will be released 2 weeks before the start of each term.
Full Fee applies to V&A Members, Patrons, students and senior citizens. Concessions are available to ES40 holders and registered disabled people. A carer may accompany registered disabled course students for free.