Introduction to Unbound: Visionary Women Collecting Textiles

Phulkari, Punjab Early 20^th Century, Cotton with floss silk embroidery, Bradford Museum and Galleries. Photography by www.paultucker.co.uk

Unbound tells the story of seven pioneering women collectors. Their ground-breaking and innovative activity over the last century has resulted in the creation of distinctive collections of textiles - historic and contemporary - spanning over 400 years of making. Gathered from across the UK and from abroad - the Balkans, Turkey, Greece, the Indian sub-continent, Japan and South America - these collections were amassed because of a personal passion for the material, a drive to increase cultural understanding, or a concern to preserve and extend practical expertise. Whether brought together as private collections or acquired by curators for their institutions, all are now in public collections, in museums and galleries across the country.

Unbound reveals an extraordinary range of material, extending across time and place, but the impulse behind each collection lies in the collectors’ shared belief in textiles as crucial documents of social and cultural history, as well as objects of great artistic value.  Together, they give a powerful indication of the wealth and breadth of textile collections in the UK, many of which deserve greater recognition.

The exhibition was curated by June Hill with Lotte Crawford, and with support from modern craft curator, Amanda Game and arts policy specialist, Jennifer Hallam – who, along with June Hill, bought this exhibition to The Bulldog Trust.

The exhibition was produced in partnership with Bankfield Museum, Halifax; Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford Museums and Galleries; Chertsey Museum; Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park; Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts; Leeds University Library Special Collections and Galleries and the Whitworth, University of Manchester.

In this blog you will hear from the curators and our partner collections about their interest in the narrative, their knowledge of these women and the importance of textiles.

Knitted Oversocks Date Unknown, Embroidered Fabric, Calderdale Museums Collection. Photography by www.paultucker.co.uk