Female textile designers

Over the past half-century, textile art has become an increasingly versatile artform. In this article, we bring you a list of six influential textile artists we think everyone should know. Needlework has been around for a very long time, but the idea that sewing and embroidery can be considered art is fairly new. Throughout history, textile art was seen as a lesser form of art compared to painting or sculpture.

It was an appropriate hobby for women, but not something that belonged to a gallery. However oppressive, it also provided a space for creative exploration.

Famous textile designers and their work

It was this dual nature of sewing and embroidery that inspired feminist artists in the U. Nowadays, the fabric works of great artists like Louise Bourgeois can be found in museums and galleries across the globe. Few female artists have ever risen to the same level of international celebrity as Louise Bourgeois. Although there are several reasons for the lack of female artists in art history and even contemporary museums and galleries, the influence of Bourgeois on the wider art world is undeniable.

With a career spanning seven decades and two continents, the French-born artist was one of the most prolific creative forces of her time.

Best textile designers in the world

Her most famous works belong to what Rosalind Krauss dubbed the expanded field of sculpture, but she was also an accomplished painter, printmaker, and most importantly for us here, textile artist. Bourgeois is often associated with Surrealism , and she exhibited on several occasions with the Abstract Expressionists, but she was never officially a member of any movement and her artistic style was very much unique.

In her large-scale sculptures and installation art, Bourgeois experimented with various materials which were not considered artistic up until the second half of the twentieth century. The artist was born in in Paris, France. Her parents owned a workshop for restoring antique tapestries, so Bourgeois had first-hand experience in textile work even though she at first went to study mathematics at the Sorbonne.

By , she had finished her education in art and opened her own gallery in Paris.