Textile Design with Stylized Flowers Rendered with Stipples Over a Striped Background

Vertical panel with a textile design that is part of a group of 266 textile designs by the American artist Robert Bryer, possibly made for United Designing Co., since most of the designs carry a stamp of the "United Designing Co. / WOrth 4 - 8975". Some of them also contain a stamp in the verso of the "Original Designing Company, Inc."

The collection contains a great variety of designs, from the more traditional floral and stripe patterns, to thematic designs based on various travel destinations, with palm trees and other holiday attributes. Especially interesting among these are patterns inspired by textiles and paintings of Native American tribes, including the Inca, Navajo, Aztec and Maya. The patterns are composed of semi-abstract figures distributed across the design in a regular or, in some cases, a more casual fashion. The spontaneity of designs and the use of floral and animal motifs suggest they were created for printed textiles in the forties.


This textile design is made up of scattered stylized flowers rendered with stipples of dark blue, white and yellow color, and green leaves decorated with light green, dark blue and white stipples over a striped background of thin vertical dark blue lines over a green base. This design presents a playful re-interpretation of "chintz" textile designs, by using flowers other than roses over a striped background, a trend that was particularly important in the production of American textiles during the 1930s and 1940s.