Althea McNish

Althea McNish is a Trinidadian-born British textile designer who migrated to England in the 1950s and became the first British designer with African roots to earn an international reputation.[1] As Angela Cobbinah has noted, "she proved immediately influential, helping to establish new furnishing trends as well as inspire more adventurous fashion designers further down the line like Zandra Rhodes."[2] She was associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) in the 1960s,[3] participating in CAM's exhibitions and seminars and helping to promote Caribbean arts to a British public.[4]

Background

She was born in Port of Spain around 1933.[2] Her prosperous family was descended from the Merikin settlers in Trinidad.[5] She painted as a child, was a junior member of the Trinidad Arts Society and had her first exhibition at the age of 16.[2] Her influences included local artist Sybil Atteck and European modernists like Van Gogh.[2] She moved to London to study architecture in the 1950s but took courses at the London College of Printing, Central School of Art and the Royal College of Art.[2] In her final year, she became interested in textiles and her talent for these was encouraged by Eduardo Paolozzi and Hugh Casson.[2] After graduating, she immediately won a commission for Liberty and they sent her to Zika Ascher who commissioned her to design a collection for Dior too.[6][2] She was successful in designing for such prestigious clients and was the first coloured woman to achieve prominence in this field.[7]

She married John Weiss, the jeweller and historian, and has been working in partnership with him since 1971.[8]

Designs

Her designs are based on nature rather than being abstract.[9] Her first successful design was Golden Harvest for Hull Traders.[9] This was based upon an Essex wheatfield but used tropical colours.[9] Another early design, Gilia, portrayed tropical foliage in green and gold.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Jefferies, Janis; Conroy, Diana Wood; Clark, Hazel (2015), The Handbook of Textile Culture, London: Bloomsbury, p. 87, ISBN 978-1-4742-7579-8
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cobbinah, Angela (Summer 2008), "A Dash of Colour" (PDF), Black History 365, Vol. Two (1): 5
  3. ↑ Schwarz, Bill (2003), West Indian Intellectuals in Britain, Manchester University Press, p. 16,28
  4. 1 2 "Fabric, Golden Harvest", Remembering Slavery (Whitworth Art Gallery) (T.10271), 2007
  5. ↑ Kamminga, Caitlyn; Walters, Adam (2016), River of Freedom, Plain Vision, ISBN 9780997166408
  6. ↑ "Althea McNish", Portraits: Women Designers (University of Brighton), 2012
  7. ↑ Blair, Pat (August 1960), "Althea McNish – fabric designer", Tropic
  8. ↑ "Althea McNish: bio", Althea McNish & John Weiss (Althea McNish & John Weiss), retrieved 14 February 2016
  9. 1 2 3 Clothes, Cloth & Culture Group, Iniva, April 2015
  10. ↑ Linten, Beatrice (3 February 1962), "Prints to Catch the Eye", Glasgow Herald
  11. ↑ Tropic (T.192-1988), Victoria and Albert Museum, 14 Jan 2016
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