The Whitworth to host first major exhibition of trailblazing designer Althea McNish

The Whitworth is hosting a major retrospective of pioneering textile designer Althea McNish.

Althea McNish: Colour Is Mine arrives on tour from the William Morris Gallery this month. McNish was the first Caribbean designer to achieve international recognition and one of the most influential and innovative textile designers in the UK.

Drawing on extensive and continuing research, the exhibition explores McNish’s incredible career, her transformative impact on mid-century design and her lasting legacy that is still very much being felt today.

The exhibition in Manchester is an opportunity to reveal the Whitworth’s unparalleled collection of fabrics and wallpapers McNish designed on display together for the first time as well as unseen works from the McNish Family Archive.

The show will also feature works by McNish’s friends and contemporaries including: fellow member of Trinidad Art Society Sybil Atteck, tutors Edward Bawden and Eduardo Paolozzi alongside contemporary designers Barbara Brown and Shirley Craven, fellow members of the Caribbean Artist Movement Ronald Moody and Winston Branch and protégé Leslee Wills, creating a display of the very best of post-war British design.

Althea McNish: Colour Is Mine will be at the Whitworth from Fri 21 Oct – Sun 23 Apr. For more information head over to the museum’s website.

Image credit: Hodder / ANL / Shutterstock Desgin: Mark El-Khatib

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