Artist      Dorothy Larcher
Title       Bunch of Mixed Flowers
Date       1950's
object    Painting
Media    oil
Size       38 x 28cm
Ref          805

A kind gift from Robin Tanner in 1992

Other websites featuring this artist's work
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Bunch of Mixed Flowers
Dorothy Larcher was born in 1884 and was during the first half of the 20th Century one of Britains leading block art printers in woven and printed textiles. Her work as a painter was also successful, but less well known than that of her printing.

Dorothy Larcher first encountered the materials and processes of block printed textiles in India. Her work as an assistant to Lady Chistiana Herringham took her there in 1914 to record the frescoes of the Ajanta caves. Larcher's detailed studies of leaves, birds and flowers betray the dark, bat-infested conditions in which she worked, perched on 'rough, locally-made steps that swayed considerably' . Larcher recognised the connection between the patterns depicted in the ancient frescoes and the contemporary Indian textiles she collected there; their particular qualities influencing both her painted and printed works on her return, when she settled in the Cotswolds. An avid gardner, the flowers in her garden at Painswick were an inspiration both for her for their patterns and for Larcher's paintings.

Dorothy Larcher died in 1952.

Further Reading:
Barley Roscoe 'Dorothy Larcher (1882-1952) - Meeting with Phyllis Barron' in Barley Roscoe Hand-blockprinted Textiles: Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher (AHDS Visual Arts, Farnham, 2004)

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