#20-3022

English Tufted Carpet

By Ron Nixon

9’3” x 11’9”

C. 1970

Wool Pile on a cotton canvas ground, jute lining.  Excellent condition.

This borderless English carpet is stamped on the jute lining “Designed and made by Ron Nixon”.  The abstract, Op Art pattern is a geometric array of semi-circles, parallelograms, fat S-shapes, triangles, and various sinuous sections.  The sections are in a wide range of colors, including royal blue, straw, rust, black, various greens, navy, sand and a few shaded, bitonal areas. Not only do the sections vary in tone, but the wool is different in each as well. The differences are quite easily visible, and the feel sets each apart from the others. Each color must have been dyed separately with a specific wool batch. However, the pile is all at the same level. The tufting was carried out through a mechanical process on a cotton ground canvas, guided by skilled operatives following a cartoon.  Needles were used to insert the variously colored wool yarns. A room size carpet could be completed in a few days via the tufting method, which is much faster than hand knotting. The totally geometric style is consistent with the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.

This one of a kind piece was commissioned by National Westminster Bank in Glasgow, Scotland for the offices of the Area Managing Director.

The designer, Ron Nixon worked with another prominent British textile artist in the 1970’s, Barbara Brown, and was also a well-known painter working in a hard-edged abstract style in primary colors. The carpet is very Mod in design, in keeping with the stylistic trends of the period. The restraint of Art Deco has been replaced by a riot of colors. Nixon’s carpet work is relatively rare outside of the U.K. and we are pleased to present such a striking example with a solid provenance.

*written by Dr. Peter Saunders