Exhibition Review of Althea McNish: Colour is Mine
Leah Howard reviews Althea McNish: Colour is Mine and comments on the work of Trinidadian designer Althea McNish
Golden Harvest, furnishing fabric, designed by Althea McNish for Hull Traders Ltd., 1960s, UK. Museum no. T.178-1989. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Colour and Althea McNish, the two are virtually synonymous. Unbeknownst to many of us - McNish is not the household name she ought to be - her vibrant patterns have decorated railway seats, made up the interior of cruise ships, and are famous Liberty patterns. McNish’s bold colour choices surround us, make up the environment around us, and influence us.
After discovering McNish at the Victoria & Albert Museum, I knew I had to pay the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow a visit. The exhibition Althea McNish: Colour is Mine, is the first retrospective that aims to showcase, celebrate, and propel into the mainstream, the extraordinary career of Trinidadian designer Althea McNish (1924-2020). My visit brought me close to the work of McNish, to her prints that “jump and jive” (Professor Catherine Harper, University of Creative Arts, UK), giving me too a spring in my step as I left the gallery.
McNish arrived in Britain on the SS Colombie in 1950, two years after the famous SS Windrush had docked. Initially enrolling at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts, her tutor Eduardo Paolozzi was influential in encouraging her to go on to study textiles at the Royal College of Art (RCA). Here she reconciled her two passions: painting and the technical mastery of printing. By the time McNish graduated in 1957, her designs were successfully commissioned by Arthur Stuart-Liberty and Zika Ascher.
McNish’s work has been compared to William Morris, as she too abstracts natural botanical forms, creating lively patterns full of movement – a modernist approach. Her interest in the processes involved in textile production was also crucial to her tropical approach to pattern designing, considering, for example, scale, fabric texture, and contrasts. Such a playful approach is already apparent in her early works, for example in Golden Harvest (1957), a screen print on heavy cotton satin. McNish took interest in the production of silk as she carefully layered tropical colours to re-create an Essex wheat field that had reminded her of sugar cane plantations in Trinidad.
“Everything I did, I saw it through a tropical eye.”
Trinidad, furnishing fabric, designed by Althea McNish for Heal's, 1960, UK. Museum no. T.444-1999. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
McNish’s Trinidadian identity is a constant presence. She injects tropical colours into traditionally British floral patterns, creating vibrancy, patterns that are full of life, a revolution in post-war British design.
As McNish’s reputation grew, her designs were commissioned by textile producers and designers such a Hull Traders, Heal’s and Dior. One of her most popular designs for Liberty included Malvaceae Hibiscus (1958), also exhibited in the William Morris Gallery. In the 1960s, McNish went on to design fabric patterns that were incorporated into Queen Elizabeth II’s wardrobe during her 1966 Royal Tour of Trinidad and the Caribbean.
Zircon, wallpaper, designed by Althea McNish for Sanderson-Rigg Ltd., 1968, England. Museum no. E.5186-1968. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In the sixties she also worked on developing fabric designs for Terylene Toile, a new synthetic fabric that was more affordable. McNish understood that a well-cut, bold-coloured patterned dress was an important part of enabling a woman to feel confident and comfortable. Accessibility was of great importance to McNish and it was important that her art should not be limited to the London art scene, instead:
“my designing is functional but free, you can wear it, sit on it, lie on it, stand on it. I can see people wearing my designs all over the world…”
Althea McNish, Paper Dress exhibited at the William Morris Gallery
Photo taken by Leah Howard
Having explored both floors of the exhibition, I was aware of McNish’s undeniable influence on British culture in the late 20th Century, her hugely successful career. However, I did wonder why I had not encountered her name before? Her patterns felt familiar. Her name did not. I am, of course, no textiles expert, but I felt that the popularity of her work was not being connected to her name. Her name was not known. While both artist and artwork are usually treated in the same vein, her work appeared nameless, even faceless. Historically, most artists were of course white men, and no such separation between artwork and artist appeared to exist. The exhibition addresses these issues of racism, a crucial part of any reflection on her work, work undoubtedly shaped by the challenges she would have faced. Despite a failure to duly accredit McNish during her lifetime, artist and artwork are never separate, and so McNish’s personality is of course visible in her artwork. Her Trinidadian roots radiate out of her work and I admire how proudly she straddles her two cultures.
“I am a citizen of the world, and I am multicultural. My ancestry is Carib. I take my inspiration… by the flowers of the English countryside, which I transform into Caribbean flamboyance.”
Through McNish’s work Trinidadian culture contributed to and shaped post-war Britain, influencing Brits then and now. Outside the printmaking scene McNish was also an active participant in the Caribbean Art Movement (CAM) and played an important role in the founding of Notting Hill Carnival. Her influence is widespread.
Colour is not only hers; colour is (now) Britain’s. The value of Caribbean culture, through artists such as McNish, in shaping post-war to modern-day Britain, is something this exhibition recognises and celebrates. Highly-recommendable.
Althea McNish: Colour is Mine was at the William Morris Gallery in London until September 11, 2022.