Enid Marx, a distant relative of Karl Marx, was born in London. She studied at the Central School of Art and Design and at the Royal College of Art, where she failed to earn her diploma because she insisted on drawing in the abstract. She is best known as textile designer, running her own printing workshop from the late 1920s to 1939. In 1937 she was commissioned to design the seating fabric for London Transport. The brief for this stated that the design had to look fresh and clean at all times and be not too geometric so as to dazzle passengers in the moving vehicle. She was a versatile designer of everything from book jackets, illustrations, posters, fabrics, postage stamps and more besides. In 1941 Marx was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry. She served as a member of the Utility Furniture Advisory Panel in 1943 and was Head of the Department of Dress, Textiles and Ceramics at Croydon College of Art from 1965-70. By all accounts Marx was a lively, vivacious woman, a campaigner for causes close to heart and an enthusiast and propagandist of English popular and traditional arts. She left the collection of the works she assembled with Margaret Lambert to Compton Verney www.comptonverney.org.uk/

Glossary

  • Ceramics

    Clay based products produced from non-metallic material and fired at high temperature. The term covers all objects made of fired clay, including earthenware, porcelain, stoneware and terra cotta.

  • Design

    The arrangement of elements or details in an artefact or a work of art.

  • Drawing

    The depiction of shapes and forms on a flat surface chiefly by means of lines although colour and shading may also be included. Materials most commonly used are pencil, ink, crayon, charcoal, chalk and pastel, although other materials, including paint, can be used in combination.

  • Panel

    A wood, cooper, Masonite, or other hard surface on which to paint. Sometimes it is referred to as a board.