Henry Moore- 50's Wallpaper Designer...

Cath Kidston is highly influenced by the 40s/50s so I opted to look into some 50's wallpaper which led me to the modernists 50's designer Henry Moore.  

 I love the boldness of the design theres a great colourful element within the patterns and the blocks of shade are contrasted by smooth colourful outline. Though the design repeats, the repeat itself looks random, possibly because the shapes vary slightly in colour. Some of the background lines have a mirror background line which helps to soften the black and provide more points of interest. Although I don't think it looks anything like Kidston's work at all Henry Moore does use a small colour palette and there is a lot of emphasis placed on colour much like Kidston's work.

Moore has drawn inspiration from leaves and ferns  by the look of it and its the only print by Moore that I have found that has a floral...ish influence (Kidston has a lot of floral prints and I thought I could draw parallels but there really are none).

I really really love the bird design above- Kidston has a whole garden bird print collection and I thought it was interesting how differently Moore has portrayed birds. I think the biggest distinction would be that Moore's work is more figurative, using blocks of colour, sharp edges shapes and random pattern. In contrast Kidstons work is relatively literal (except perhaps in colour) her birds are generated out of strips of carefully placed block colour that helps to create the impression of shade and shape. Despite Moore's obvious differences I love the birds 4 shade colour palette. The use of line creates detail and the design has a clear repeat. His designs I have noticed are incredibly chaotic, theres a lot going on and I think it really works with his style.

The print above is somewhat subdued compared to earlier examples, the pattern itself reminds me of a typewriter. Again huge emphasis is placed on both line and shape with a controlled colour palette that keeps the pattern calm.

Overall I can really draw no real parallels between Moore's work and Kidston's, but looking at his work has helped to inspire me- although I shall be very careful about creating a Kidstonesc style. Since Kidston draws inspiration from vintage fabrics from the 40s/50s it has been helpful to draw inspiration in the same way.