51st Annual Delaware Show

ANONYMOUS ARTISANS: TEXTILE DESIGNERS & THEIR SOURCES Until the promotion of textiles designed by well-known artists came to the fore in the early twentieth century, designers for printed textiles had, in general, remained anonymous. We can document little about the majority of those designers who worked in the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century calico printing industry, but we can contextualize their experiences from the fragmentary information available for some who were more famous. By the middle of the 1700s, the role of artists and designers was fluid, competitive, and rapidly growing as a boom in the middle-class consumer market resulted in high demand for quality design for a wide variety of goods. This elevated status of design resulted in a huge increase in the number of instruction manuals and pattern books that were available to artisans. Painters, engravers, publishers, print sellers, calico printers, and potters all jumped on the bandwagon, demanding high-quality designs depicting fashionable botanical specimens, patriotic events, theatrical successes, and country scenes that resonated with the public. To fulfill that need, London publishers like Robert Sayer promoted and popularized designs that were relevant to a variety of artisans. One of his most widely known treatises, The Ladies Amusement; or, Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy, was published in 1760, 1762, and 1769. The volume highlights the work of Frenchman Jean — 146 —