Andy Warhol textiles

A leviathan on the 1960s Pop Art scene, Warhol's earlier textiles were virtually unknown, but an exhibition of garments made from fabrics in his designs is set to change this

- Celia Rufey

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) became the face of 1960s Pop Art in the US then worldwide with portraits most famously of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's soup cans. Coming to light now more than 60 years later are his textile designs from the previous decade. This is thanks to the work of Geoffrey Rayner and Richard Chamberlain, detailed in their book, Warhol: The Textiles (£30, Yale University Press) and seen in their companion exhibition of garments made in these textiles dating from 1954 to 1963. This is now showing at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey, London, until 10th September, and will then move to other UK venues.

Rayner and Chamberlain realised that Warhol textiles was an unexplored area worth investigation around 2010. Their exhaustive search on textile auction sites, the internet and at vintage clothing sales progressed over the next 14 years because it was clear that textile designs from Warhol's early days in New York, working as a commercial artist and illustrator, would add an intriguing layer to his later fame as an artist. As Chamberlain explains, 'the majority of Warhol's commercial art produced between 1949 and 1963 were advertisement and editorial illustrations for magazines and newspapers, depicting everyday household objects, clothing, footwear and food.

He was able to reuse this subject matter as repeating patterns for textile designs. His textile themes tended to coincide with what he was focusing on in his commercial commissions at the time.