Design for 'Cromer Bird' cretonne

Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo regarded himself as "an artist with a scientific training". His early designs were greatly influenced by the lively debate surrounding evolutionary theory after the publication of Charles Darwin's texts in the late 19th century. He took inspiration from vibrant, vital natural forms. This design for a cretonne cotton fabric suggests a blustery day at Cromer, on the Norfolk coast: seaweed flowing in the push and pull of an underwater current, whilst flowers and darting birds are carried in opposite directions on the wind above.