Colour for a grey day

 

Visiting the Althea McNish exhibition at the Whitworth in Manchester yesterday was a marvellous antidote to a grey Saturday morning.  Althea herself arrived from the warmth and sunshine of Trindad and Tobago to a cold, wet London in the 1950s, and I wonder how much of a culture shock she experienced, and if this might have left her feeling nostalgic for the warmth and colour of her childhood home.

I'd heard of McNish, but have never consciously looked at or for her work.  The explosion of colours and shapes in Althea's work is amazing, and so familiar from things I saw around me as a young child.

The wallpaper in our living room, our bedlinen, and other household textiles were obviously influenced by McNish's work, and I wonder if some of my mum's own art/design work was inspired by McNish - I personally believe so.

I love the colour and scale of McNish's work, but I find some of it quite overwhelming and would struggle to fit her designs into my small 30s home.  Althea said, "Everything I did, I saw through a tropical eye", and that point of view certainly shows through her work.

Many of her floral designs are based around the English flowers she saw around her, but recreated using the vivid colours and huge scale of tropical plants.  These must have been such a welcome relief in the still-grey times of post-war 1950s.

Also on view were some wax resist pieces, and I especially loved this piece above.  It's reminiscent of drawings I did as a child, evokes memories of my mum teaching me similar techniques, and (as the daughter and granddaughter of sailors) boats are almost a race memory for me.