Nederlands Textielmuseum, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
In the past, shiny linen damask used to feature on many dining tables. The table linen and napkins were a standard part of the trousseau of well-to-do, marriageable women. Possessing an extensive linen trousseau was her pride and represented great value.
Around the turn of the century in 1900 a number of linen weavers in Brabant – in and near Eindhoven – took the iniative of involving artists to create artistic linen table damask.
This exhibition presented an excellent overview of the beautifully designed linen table damask from the first part of the 20th century. This display was one part of a two-part exhibition of artistic linen damask. The other part of the exhibition was called ‘From Arabesk to Swan; linen damask designs by artist Chris Lebeau’. His designs for linen damask (approx. 55) with Art Nouveau style patterns of nature that were created for linen weaver Van Dissel & Zonen in Eindhoven have become very famous.
Sanny de Zoete wrote the concept, acted as guest curator for this exhibition and is co-author of the book ‘Artistiek damast van Brabantse bodem 1900-1960’ (Artistic damask from Brabant 1900-1960).
www.textielmuseum.nl, 8 October 2005 to 22 January 2006
