Althea McNish

Althea McNish is a British textile designer of Trinidadian origin who has been called the first British designer of African descent to earn an international reputation.[1] Born in Trinidad, McNish moved to Britain in the 1950s. She was associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) in the 1960s,[2] participating in CAM's exhibitions and seminars and helping to promote Caribbean arts to a British public.[3] Her work is represented in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Whitworth Museum, among other places.[4]

Background

Althea Marjorie McNish[5] was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, around 1933.[6] Her prosperous family was descended from the Merikin settlers in Trinidad.[7][6] She painted as a child, was a junior member of the Trinidad Arts Society and had her first exhibition at the age of 16.[6] Her influences included local artists Sybil Atteck and Boscoe Holder as well as European modernists such as Van Gogh.[6]

In the early 1950s McNish moved with her mother to London, England, to join her father there.[8] She already had a place to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in Bedford Square but instead took courses at the London College of Printing, the Central School of Art and the Royal College of Art.[6][8] In her final year at the London College of Printing, she became interested in textiles with the encouragement of Eduardo Paolozzi, and chose printed textiles as her subject of study on progressing to the Royal College of Art, where her talent was recognised by Hugh Casson.[6] On graduating, she immediately won a commission from Arthur Stewart-Liberty, head of the Liberty department store, sending her the same day to Zika Ascher, who commissioned her to design a collection for Dior.[6][9] Successfully designing for such prestigious clients, McNish was the first Caribbean woman to achieve prominence in this field.[10]

She took part in the art exhibitions of the Caribbean Artists Movement held in 1967, May 1968 and January 1971, exhibiting textiles as well as "plastic panels in laminate".[11]

More recently, her work — represented by three printed textiles from early in her career: "Golden Harvest", "Pomegranate" and "Fresco"[12] — was featured in the exhibition RCA Black: Past, Present & Future (31 August–6 September 2011),[13] organised by the Royal College of Art in collaboration with the African and African-Caribbean Design Diaspora (AACDD) to celebrate art and design by African and African-Caribbean graduates.[14][15]

In 1969 she married John Weiss, architect, jeweller and historian, and has worked in partnership with him since 1971.[16]

Notable designs

Most of McNish's designs are based on nature though some use abstract themes, occasionally geometric. One of her first designs to go into production, Golden Harvest in 1959, was a screen print on cotton satin manufactured by Hull Traders[3] (for whom she created eight patterns),[17] the design being based on an Essex wheatfield but using tropical colours.[18] A number of her early designs including Tropic, a dress fabric printed on silk and produced by Zika Ascher in 1959, and Gilia, a cotton furnishing fabric featuring tropical foliage in green and gold, produced by Hull Traders in 1961, are in the textile collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum.[19][20]

In 1997, reviewing the exhibition Transforming the Crown: African, Asian and Caribbean Artists in Britain, 1966–1996, in which McNish participated at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, with other CAM artists, The New York Times reported that she "produces abstract, geometric fabric designs inspired by African motifs".[21]

Selected exhibitions

Solo[22]
Group[22]

Awards and accolades

References

  1. ↑ Jefferies, Janis; Conroy, Diana Wood; Clark, Hazel (2015), The Handbook of Textile Culture, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, p. 87, ISBN 978-1-4742-7579-8
  2. ↑ Schwarz, Bill (2003), West Indian Intellectuals in Britain, Manchester University Press, pp. 16, 28
  3. 1 2 "Fabric, Golden Harvest", Remembering Slavery (Whitworth Art Gallery) (T.10271), 2007
  4. ↑ "Art notes (review)", AJR, October 2011 Journal.
  5. ↑ "Althea Marjorie McNISH" at Debrett's People of Today.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cobbinah, Angela (Summer 2008), "A Dash of Colour", Black History 365 Two (1): 5 (via Angela Cobbinah website).
  7. ↑ Kamminga, Caitlyn; Walters, Adam (2016), River of Freedom, Plain Vision, p. 32, ISBN 9780997166408
  8. 1 2 Anne Walmsley (1992), The Caribbean Artists Movement 1966–1972: A Literary and Cultural Study, London/Port of Spain: New Beacon Books, p. 18.
  9. ↑ "Althea McNish", Portraits: Women Designers (Arts and Humanities, University of Brighton), 2012
  10. ↑ Blair, Pat (August 1960), "Althea McNish – fabric designer", Tropic
  11. ↑ Walmsley (1992), pp. 87, 135, 150, 228, 285.
  12. ↑ "RCA Black", RCA Society.
  13. ↑ "Althea McNish" at Diaspora Artists.
  14. ↑ "RCA Black: Past, Present & Future", African and African Caribbean Design Diaspora.
  15. ↑ Goddard, Juliette, "A Cultural Diversity Affair at the Royal College of Art BLACK EXHIBITION in London", Dunia, 6 September 2011.
  16. ↑ "Althea McNish: bio", Althea McNish & John Weiss (Althea McNish & John Weiss), retrieved 14 February 2016
  17. ↑ "Althea McNish Revolutionary Fabrics & Furniture - Hull", RCA Society.
  18. ↑ Clothes, Cloth & Culture Group, Iniva, April 2015
  19. ↑ Tropic (T.192-1988), Victoria and Albert Museum, 14 January 2016 Gilia (T.192-1988), Victoria and Albert Museum, 16 March 2016
  20. ↑ Linten, Beatrice (3 February 1962), "Prints to Catch the Eye", Glasgow Herald
  21. ↑ Cotter, Holland, "ART REVIEW; This Realm of Newcomers, This England", The New York Times, 24 October 1997.
  22. 1 2 Althea McNish Bibliography and Exhibitions, AAVAD.
  23. ↑ "National Awards Database". The Office of the President of Trinidad and Tobago.
  24. 1 2 "Independence Arts Achievement award for Althea". RCA Society. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  25. ↑ "T&T nationals get awards in UK", Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, 7 October 2012

External links

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