British Pathé - Fabric Pictures by Eugenie Alexander ( 1958 )

Our latest entry in the British Pathé series spotlights a 1958 newsreel about an artist who worked with an unusual medium - fabric. Her name is Eugenie Alexander and her artwork was famous enough to warrant the publication of a book "Fabric Art" published just a year after this short 2-minute newsreel was filmed. 

These days this type of fabric artwork is often called "textile collage" and, while the announcer proclaims that it had existed since ancient Egyptian times, it was rare to find such an artist working with this medium in the 1950s and is still quite rare today ( most collage artists prefer working with paper and glue ). Still, it is a lovely and colorful form of art and Eugenie's designs bring to mind the work of Charles Wysocki who liked to evoke traditional American folk art style in his paintings. 

Eugenie's patterns also remind me of the opening title credits in Walt Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks ( 1968 ) which were created by David Jonas and made to look like the 12th-century Bayeaux tapestry....one of the most magnificent examples of ancient fabric art. Her figures are lanky and the facial features medieval. 

Eugenie's husband, Bennett Carter, holds up some of her works for the camera to see, one of which is this pretty turn-of-the-century tableau ( shown above ). Although Carter is introduced as an "artist and teacher" I was not able to discover any background history about him. 

Ready to watch Fabric Pictures? Simply click on the link below. 

British Pathé - Fabric Pictures.

Other similar British Pathé clips : 

Nature Designs in Fabric  ( 1957 ) - 3:09 min
Fabric Painting and Printing ( 1955 ) - 1:58 min