The Bernat Klein exhibition at the
Dovecot Gallery in Edinburgh has ended. It was a pleasure to see this retrospective devoted to the work of such a remarkable designer who sadly passed away last year.One could see samples of his multi-coloured yarns, some of the tapestries he made in collaboration with the Dovecot and some of the oil paintings he made whilst developing his textile designs. He had a remarkable life-from Yugoslavia to Israel to Galashiels he followed his vocation in textiles with great determination and originality.
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| Bernat Klein Dress:Polyester, 1969 V&A. Not shown. |
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| Detail from Bernat Klein painting. This one was in the exhibition and seems to relate to the dress shown above. |
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| Bernat Klein painting-as shown |
The paintings were mostly very attractive and the tie-in with the textiles obvious at a glance. The colour is rich,clean and luminous. It is obvious that the paintings have been cared for and it is delightful to see that some have been sold.
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| Bernat Klein painting as shown. |
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Published by Bernat Klein Scotland with Collins,
London 1965. (The colophon says that Collins were the distributors) |
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| Double page spread from "An Eye for Colour" Showing on the left a painting "Seascape" and don the right the cloth known as "Velvet Tweed"-with a velvet ribbon for the warp and one of the multi-coloured yarns for the weft. |
I first heard of
Bernat Klein, An Eye for Colour when my local library bought a copy. It wasn't that I had much interest in textiles or knowledge of them but here was a nicely produced book with lots of good colour illustrations and excellent typography. From what I later learned of Klein this could be no surprise. It was immediately obvious that he wanted quality in whatever he produced. In a word, the book stood out and was immensely attractive in itself. This was something to be treasured way back in the 1960s. There were numerous colour illustrations and of course I was delighted to find that Klein shared my fascination with Seurat. He names him as one of the inspirations of his multi coloured wool fibres and textiles.I cannot pretend that I read the book from cover to cover on first acquaintance. I did that a few years ago when I bought my own copy and my respect for the man increased considerably.
Klein's archives exist at Herriot-Watt's border campus (14 linear metres) and this
PDF gives an idea of the range of items. For a sketch of his career and further illustrations this item will be very helpful.You can see textile samples at the National Museum of Scotland
here. The NMS will eventually be opening a gallery which will include Klein's work.
