Marianne Straub preserved Christmas cards and other ephemera in the scrapbook which is on show in the Fry Gallery. Every week we open it at a different page. This week we have cards from:
1 – Hans Fischer. Hans and his wife Bianca (née Wassmuth) met Marianne as fellow pupils at the Zurich Kunstgewerbeschule (art school). Hans is renowned for his book illustration, his most famous creation being the kitten ‘Pitschli’.
2 – David Gentleman. This little wood cut of the Gentlemans’ house in Camden advises friends of their acquisition of a telephone.
3 – The artist of this little fold-out of Trinity Cottage is unknown. This was Marianne’s home in Great Bardfield between 1952 and 1971.
4, 5 & 6 – Edward Bawden.
7 – Richard Bawden, offering ‘Greetings for a Jolly Good New Year’.
8 – a minimalist design in this card from Lucienne and Robin Day.
9 – a collage Christmas tree from ‘the Griersons’. Ronald Grierson and his wife Enid (nee Martin) taught themselves to weave and supplied textile designs to several important customers including Liberty’s, Heals, and the Wilton carpet factory.
10 – Sheila Robinson created this decorative tag with caged birds.
11 – Mea Angerer, like Marianne, was an influential textile designer who trained initially in Europe, but pursued her career in the UK. Mea also supplied designs for the Festival of Britain and worked on commissions for well-known English firms such as G. P. & J. Baker and Warner & Sons, amongst others.
Marianne Straub’s scrapbook is on show in the Fry Gallery until Sunday July 2nd.