Designer's visit inspires new exhibition

When pioneering painter and designer Enid Marx visited a country house shortly before her death in the 1990s, she made the decision to donate some of her work.

Inspired by the transformation of Compton Verney in Warwickshire into an art gallery, she donated the English folk art she had built over decades with her lifelong partner, historian Margaret Lambert.

More than 25 years later, that gift has inspired the first major exhibition dedicated to Marx, considered one of the country's most influential yet overlooked designers, the gallery said.

The Pattern of Life: Enid Marx and Modern British Design will explore the life and work of the artist behind London Underground's iconic seat fabrics.

The collection will bring together loans from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Library and the Crafts Study Centre alongside objects already housed at Compton Verney.

The exhibition, running between 18 July and 3 January 2027, also reunites many of the personal items Marx chose to leave to the gallery following her visit, including textiles, folk art and a handmade valentine's card exchanged between Marx and Lambert.

Senior curator Oli McCall said: "Enid Marx visited Compton Verney in 1995. The house was being transformed into an art gallery, and [Enid] chose to donate the collection of popular art she had lovingly assembled with Margaret Lambert.

"That remarkable collection has delighted visitors ever since, making Compton Verney the perfect venue for this exhibition.

"Since then, this treasure-trove of objects with which Marx and Lambert lived, and which inspired Marx's design work in many ways, has delighted audiences here, making Compton Verney the perfect venue for this groundbreaking exhibition.

McCall said the exhibition had been "underpinned by years of research" by Dr Az Crawford into Marx's life and work, and that it would give visitors an "unparalleled insight into the work of one of the most significant designers in modern British history."

The exhibition will follow Marx's life through fabric and design, exploring her family influences, artistic education and professional career, according to the gallery.

It will showcase work including the original London Underground fabric designs and wood engravings to ceramics, prints and textiles.

Born in London to an entrepreneurial Jewish family, Marx studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and the Royal College of Art between 1922 and 1925. She died in May 1998, aged 95.

Lead curator Dr Az Crawford said the exhibition aimed to reposition Marx as a major figure in British modernism.

"Marx has long been overlooked as one of Britain's major modernist designers," Crawford said.

"This exhibition reconsiders the significance of her work, showing how pattern reflected the personal, social and political concerns of the first half of the twentieth century."

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