Enid Marx : The Pleasures of Pattern - Alan Powers

Enid Marx (1902-1998) was a leading artist and designer, collector and writer, who played an important role in British cultural life in the mid-20th century. Now available in paperback, Alan Powers' definitive account of her career makes a welcome return to print after its original publication in 2018. Associated with Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden in the `outbreak of talent' at the Royal College of Art in the 1920s, Marx excelled as a designer and printer of hand-blocked fabrics before branching into industrial woven patterns for London Underground and the wartime Utility Furniture Scheme. After making a significant contribution to book illustration, she went on to design postage stamps and patterns for laminates, becoming a Royal Designer for Industry and an advocate for better design training and industrial patronage. In parallel, with her life partner the historian Margaret Lambert, she formed a collection of `Popular Art', which was bequeathed to Compton Verney in Warwickshire, where it is an increasingly popular attraction. Selected words and images from Marx's extensive archive, combined with high-quality reproductions of a wide variety of designs, illuminate Marx's versatility, high spirits and reconciliation of modernity and tradition through a rare gift for pattern making.