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Orpheus Antique Art Deco Pastel Rug by Ashley Havinden for Wilton Royal Factory

$21,261.15
£15,974.61
€18,000
CA$29,276.79
A$32,766.13
CHF 17,151.90
MX$398,049.07
NOK 217,785.52
SEK 205,517.84
DKK 136,997.90

About the Item

Ashley Eldred Havinden (1903-1973) was an avant garde English painter and designer, trained at the Central School for Arts and Crafts in London. A prolific advertising artistic director and later President of William S. Crawford Associates, he began designing carpets in 1932 encouraged by Duncan Miller, who exhibited them in his London gallery and dedicated to Havinden a solo show in 1937. He also designed carpets for Simpson's department store in 1934 and 1935, as well as Edinburgh Weavers (founded in 1928 by James Morton as a progressive branch of the Alexander Morton and Co., a leading mill throughout the Arts & Crafts period). In the early 1930's he befriended many of the Bauhaus artists who had emigrated to England following the closure of the school, and trained under the sculptor Henry Moore. The latter would influence him greatly in developing his distinguishing traits, characterised by the wavy, asymmetrical motifs which feature prominently in the rugs he first conceived. 'Orpheus', illustrated here, was one of the designs made for the Wilton Royal Carpet Factory. Executed in his signature style, which he described in 1965 by stating that 'as a result of my experiments with abstract painting, I jumped at the idea of the application of bold brush forms and vivid colours to produce 'swooping' designs for modern rugs.' In his celebration of the Greek mythological figure of Orpheus, Havinden highlights its musical associations by masterfully embellishing a curvilinear motif which appears to derive from the symbol of the key of violin. Bibliography: S.B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, pp. 378-379 and plate 403. New York: Abbeville Press, 1995. S. Day, Art Deco and Modernist Carpets, p. 191. San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC, 2002.
  • Creator:
  • Dimensions:
    Width: 59.85 in (152 cm)Length: 96.46 in (245 cm)
  • Style:
    Art Deco (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
    Wool,Hand-Knotted
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    Circa 1935
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    Milan, IT
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: Alberto Levi Gallery 060161stDibs: LU954936658522

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