Textile Design

Textile Design. Approximately 1923- 1924. Pencil, ink and gouache on paper. 13.8 x 17. Popova and Stepanova probably began working at the First State Weavers' Printing Factory (formerly the Chindel or Zindel factory) in late 1923 or early 1924, when they were invited by its director, Aleksandr Arkangelski. They both believed that the replacement of traditional floral designs with geometric designs was a basic condition for the rational organization and mechanization of the production of textiles and ultimately clothing. So Popova's designs were based on the shapes of Euclidean geometry - the circle, the triangle and the rectangle. Each design utilized the potential of one or two shapes in combination. The color range was similarly limited to one or two colors plus black and white. Two-dimensional work was stripped down to its basics and the economy of artistic media was strict. Although the fundamentals were simple, the result was often complex, consisting of repetitions, developments and variations of the simplest and most easily reproduced shapes. Often a single color was used, apart from the black and white background of the fabric, thus reducing the cost of printing. Other times the design is based on a shape, such as the rectangle, or on spaced circles and rectangles that create counter-rhythms and subvert or even dislocate the form. Popova's designs for textiles and clothing, using geometric shapes and primary colors, are closely related to her early paintings, which explore the effects of basic pictorial elements on space and structure. The conception of textile designs often coincided with that of clothing. They were part of a comprehensive approach to the problem of new clothing. Productivism.