Good Reads - Lucienne Day: In the Spirit of the Age

Lucienne Day: In the Spirit of the Age, by Andrew Casey featuring Lucienne Day's Calyx Design

I've become a bit more scholarly in my approach to quilting and sewing lately. I've been soaking up books and learning as much as I can about historical art movements to better understand how today's handcrafted projects fit in the broader art world.

This week, those scholarly efforts led me to our city library. I showed up with an open mind and decided I'd check out any books that tickled my fancy. I came home with a mix of new-to-me and refresher books about color theory, geometry, textile design and quilting.

Fruits of an unplanned library stop

Today I'd like to talk about Lucienne Day: In the Spirit of the Age by Andrew Casey. (disclosure: this post contains affiliate links)  I found this book in the 746 section of the library which is the classification for textile arts. For those who aren't familiar with her work, Lucienne Day was a designer who worked in post-war Britain. She created a number of iconic 1950's textiles patterns which she sold to a number of textile houses. In addition to her textile work, her patterns have also been used on homewares and later showcased in art exhibitions. She was a prolific, award-winning designer of the era.

Throughout the book, Andrew Casey not only documents Lucienne Day's work and the evolution of her design style, he also gives insight to her design philosophy.

"...she believed that good design should be mass-produced for the many and not just the few, and that it could improve the lives of ordinary people."

The book contains hundreds of plates from the 50s, 60s and 70s which illustrate her work, including colorway variations and later reprints. The work on the cover is, perhaps, her best known piece reflective of the Swedish-modern style of the era. Casey does a great job in explaining the evolution of design in post-war society.

As with other Good Reads that I recommend, I feel this book would be quite inspirational for modern quilters. At the moment, I'm particularly interested in quilting lines and have been considering how the geometric sketched overlays in Lucienne Day's designs would translate into machine-quilting patterns.

Graphica, Lucienne Day, 1953

Perpendicular, Lucienne Day, 1956

Triad, Lucienne Day, 1955

Windows (4909) and Unknown Title, Lucienne Day, 1950

Isosceles, Lucienne Day, 1955

Of course, there's plenty of inspiration for patchwork pieces as well, and it is a superb reference for textile collectors. I highly recommend having a gander at Lucienne Day: In the Spirit of the Age or seeking out more about her work online. As you flip through the pages, I'm sure you'll find the work familiar and striking at the same time. If you're in the Melbourne area, pop you name on the reserve list at the City Library, as I'll be returning the book in a couple of weeks. I'm quite excited about this one; I think those of you excited about 1950s design will be too.

The details:
Published 2014, Printed in China
Antique Collectors' Club
Andrew Casey
ISBN: 978-1-85149-727-0