C.F.A. Voysey (1857-1941) Arts & Crafts Upholstered Sofa, Circa 1900

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Object Description

C.F.A. Voysey (1857-1941) Arts & Crafts Upholstered Sofa, Circa 1900.

A magnificent and extremely rare sofa covered in original ‘The Owl’ woollen fabric designed by renowned arts and crafts architect and designer C. F. A. Voysey, manufactured by Alexander Morton & Co., Davel.

The upholstered back, bolster arms and seat with fringed apron raised on turned mahogany front legs. The Upholstery is faded and frayed but still robust as it the original 1898 heavy woven wool jacquard. We are currently having restoration carried out to the fabric to preserve the originality of the piece and to make it has another 100 years.

Design for ‘The Owl’ wallpaper and textile pattern, showing pairs of owls and nests of chicks, large foliage and white berries, amongst foliage and white berries 1897 .

The architect C.F.A. Voysey’s ingenuity as a pattern designer is shown in this fabric, which could be used for curtains or upholstery. The design was originally used for wallpaper and was adapted by the manufacturer Alexander Morton for this woollen textile. Voysey’s stylised birds and trees became his trademark. Because of the popularity of his work at the time, they came to characterise the Arts and Crafts style. Charles Voysey was one of the Arts and Craft movement’s most successful architects, as well as producing some of its most striking designs for furniture and other interior elements, including wallpaper and textiles.

Elegant and quietly expressive, Voysey’s work demonstrated the designer’s strong belief in ‘less is
more’; his drawings for flat-surface design demonstrate the same restraint and interest in clear space that is evident in his furniture and other objects. Although Voysey wouldn’t have accepted it
himself – as a British practitioner of Arts and Crafts design he would have had little enthusiasm for
such an exuberant, ‘European’ style – it is generally agreed that his dramatic large-scale florals laid
the foundations for the development of Art Nouveau, particularly the work of Czech painter and decorative artist Alphonse Mucha.

Object Details

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