Artist Designed Novelty Print fabric – 1950s

Back in April I posted photos of my latest novelty print gathered skirt, the cruise ship themed one above.  As so often happens in blogging in this case, the comments turned out to be more interesting than the post itself, because reader lemur178 drew the conclusion that this print was from the same “A Regulated Cotton – Never Misbehaves” series as several other prints, two of which I also have, Tinhorn Holiday and Oasis.  She also noted that these seemed to be from the illustrator, Saul Steinberg, due to the similarity in style to a fabric known to have been drawn by him, Paddington Station.

Tinhorn Holiday

Oasis

Fortunately, lemur178 had the opportunity to attend an event that put the pieces of the puzzle together for us.  She writes:

Went to the ‘Artists’ Textiles 1940 – 1976′ talk and book launch last night at London’s Fashion & Textiles Museum.  Most interesting and lots of very beautiful fabrics to admire.

I was initially going there to find out about the Saul Steinberg prints as you may remember. According to the authors (something which was confirmed to them by John Rombola, I think), although Steinberg had a licence with Piazza Fabrics for his work, he found the lure of money somewhat hard to resist and entered into various ‘unofficial’ deals with other manufacters, more specifically the Regulated Cottons – “Never Misbehaves” prints used for so many skirts at the time.  This explains why the prints are so recognisably his, yet his name never appears.  The book features several expamples, including an opera one I’d never seen before.  It didn’t have your boat, but when I spoke to one of the authors afterwards, he said they did have a boat one that they hadn’t featured in the book.  Presumably this is the same as yours. 

So, thanks to lemur178, and the research of the authors of the book, we now know that Steinberg did design this line.  The book is Artists’ Textiles 1940-1976, by Geiff Rayner, Richard Chamberlain and Annamarie Phelps, and it  seems to be available on Amazon.  I have been watching the page for the book, and it has been saying that the book will be released in the USA on July 16, but it now says that it is currently in stock.  I’ll be buying a copy soon and will do a review of it.

This really points out just how important blog comments are.  Several weeks ago there was a post on the Independent Fashion Bloggers site that asked the question, “Has blogging lost its community?”  

In other words, people are noticing that their blogs are not getting as many comments as in the past.  I’ve noticed it here, but not to a huge degree.  Still, I do hope that whenever you read something here or on other blogs and you can add to the conversation, that you will take the time to  post and share your knowledge and thoughts.  That is what really adds value to any blog.

Some details of the prints: