Calyx (1951) by Lucienne DaySound and Music
The first recorded textile dates back 30,000-36,000 years, to Dzudzuana Cave, Georgia. As textiles naturally deteriorate, it's likely they existed far earlier. In many cultures, weaving, knitting, sewing and embroidery have been the province of women.
It’s no wonder, then, that textiles are stitched into the history of women's rights. Scroll on to discover the pioneering women using their craft to emancipate and empower, from Anni Albers to Faith Ringgold.
Design (1742) by Garthwaite, Anna MariaThe Victoria and Albert Museum
Anna Maria Garthwaite
A British textile designer known for designing hand woven silk fabrics in the mid-18th century, Anna Maria Garthwaite became recognized as the prominent designer of her day.
Many of Garthwaite’s designs have been identified in portraits and costume collections from the era, despite her never receiving any formal technical training.
"Housetop"—"Half-Log Cabin" variation (c. 1950) by Aolar MoselyOriginal Source: The Studio Museum in Harlem, Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Gee's Bend Quilts
An isolated village on the Alabama River, Gee's Bend is also home to one of America's most treasured craft traditions. For generations, women from this African-American community have woven their way into the history of Western art.
These beautiful bedcovers draw on African and Native American patterning styles, and have become a symbol of resistance and identity throughout the history of the Human Rights movement and Black culture in the USA. The craft has been passed down for centuries.
First Lady Michelle Obama (2018) by Amy SheraldSmithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
First Lady Michelle Obama even chose to wear patterns inspired by the Gee's Bend quilts in her official portrait, further cementing the impact these women and their art have had on American visual culture. Learn more.
Elsie Howey in a replica prison cell (1909)Museum of London
Elsie Howey
Jailed many times, British suffragette Elsie Howey, is pictured here in prison uniform in 1909 in a replica prison cell, taking part in sewing as a prison activity. Howey (1884-1963) used this and other tactics to protest the conditions suffragettes were imprisoned under.
WSPU Tablecloth worked by Winifred Roberts (1912)Original Source: LSE Library
Winifred Roberts
British artist Winifred Roberts (1893-1981) is celebrated for her watercolours and landscape paintings. She studied at Byam Shaw School of Art and exhibited widely. Between 1912 and 1914, she collected the signatures of many well known suffragettes and embroidered over them.
Linen tablecloth by Winifred Roberts
Roberts stitched the names of celebrated suffragettes into the fabric of this 1914 work. Here you can see the names Beatrice Sanders, Annie Kenney, and Geraldine Lomax.
Zoom into the centre of the table cloth and you can see Emmeline Pankhurst's signature embroidered in the centre.
Dorothy Liebes, Textile Designer by Charles SteinheimerLIFE Photo Collection
Dorothy Liebes
Self-taught Californian Dorothy Liebes (1897-1972), designed textiles for well known architects including Frank Lloyd Wright. She was Director of the Red Cross's Arts and Skills workshop and is best known for designing a screen for the United Nations Delegates Dining Room.
Untitled (1969) by Anni AlbersNational Museum of Women in the Arts
Anni Albers
German textile designer, weaver, writer and printmaker, Anni Albers (1899-1994) was a pioneer of 20th century Modernism. Rather than staying home like her mother, Albers went to art college, enrolling in the weaving workshop at the Bauhaus, the only workshop open to women.
Through her innovative work, Albers came to be one of the definitive artists of the Bauhaus movement, typifying its theories of form and function.
Ray Eames (c. 1940s) by Charles EamesOriginal Source: Eames Office
Ray Eames
Ray Eames (1912-1988) and her creative and life partner Charles Eames are known for pioneering contributions to architecture, furniture design, graphic design and textile design. The pair created designs still celebrated today for their colourful, abstract and humorous approach.
Riscos y Tiempo (1985) by Olga de AmaralThe Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Olga de Amaral
Colombian artist, Olga de Amaral (1932-) weaves non-traditional fibres together in her artworks. Drawing on Colombian artisanal techniques, Amaral is considered an important Latin American artist. She won the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art.
Street Story Quilt (1985) by Faith RinggoldThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Faith Ringgold
Drawing on the long history of textile-based radical art, contemporary artist Faith Ringgold used her quilts to tell stories of Black culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. This quilt weaves a narrative of survival and redemption in Harlem, New York.
Zoom in for yourself and discover the closely observed lives in each window.
