In the early post-war period, science enjoyed great popular appeal. X-ray crystallography - the study of the structure of molecules - was one of the most exciting fields at the time. In X-ray crystallography a narrow beam of X-ray is passed through a crystal formed of the target substance in regular arrays. The shadows cast by the diffracted X-rays are then photographed. The diffraction patterns are then analysed and the arrangement of atoms calculated. It requires skill to create suitable crystals for analysis and even more skill in analysing the resulting diffraction patterns.
Dr Helen Megaw, a professional crystallographer with great experience in producing these analyses, saw both the scientific explanatory power of these techniques and the aesthetic qualities of the images. She believed that her science intersected art and that the results of her and her colleagues’ work could serve as a powerful stimulus to both artists and designers. The resulting patterns would serve both as a celebration of these scientific achievements and provide a distinctive aesthetic matching the spirit of optimism and progress which the imminent Festival of Britain was to embody.
The Festival Pattern Group (FPG)
In 1949 Dr Megaw was invited to act as the scientific advisor for the FPG. The Group was a unique collaboration between X-ray crystallographers and designers, who took crystallography diagrams as their inspiration and applied the patterns to everyday items, such as wallpaper, fabrics and carpets. The repetitive molecular structures within the crystal array form an analogue to the cellular structures of many designs for textiles.
Although the public and manufacturers found the designs intriguing, they were never a great commercial success. The most successful patterns were the small-scale ones for
jacquard-woven silk ties. The Group’s legacy was to provoke a popularity for spindly linear patterns evoking molecular forms and micro-organisms on 1950s textiles. Three-dimensional atomic structure models led to a craze for accessories with ball-and-spoke structures, such as magazine racks and coat-hangers.
Many of these exhibits had been stored unseen in the vaults of the V&A Museum but, fifty years on, the work of the FPG still has an intriguing quirky quality and also the potential to be exploited once more by artists and designers.
Haemoglobin (a vital oxygen-carrying protein molecule in the blood) – the most widely used pattern – was applied to printed and woven dress and furnishing fabrics, lace, tie silks, leathercloth, plastic laminate, wallpaper, wrapping paper and ceramics.
Myoglobin (an oxygen-carrying protein molecule active in muscle tissue) – upholstery fabrics and wall coverings.
Insulin (an essential hormone secreted by the pancreas) - wallpaper, carpets, plastic laminates, linoneum, leathercloth, lace and ties.
Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE
24 April – 10 August 2008
For those who missed the exhibition and are interested, a book has been published on the exhibition:
Jackson L 2008 From Atoms to Patterns. London, Richard Dennis.
For more information than you will ever want to know about the Festival of Britain, visit:
http://www.packer34.freeserve.co.uk/index.html