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04-003.
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I originally picked this cloth up because of its resemblance to Russel Wright's designs for Leacock. Then on June 14th I received an email from Gary Mauer, a regular on the Russel Wright Listserv and a well-researched Simtex collector. In his email, he wrote: "Laura and I were out antiquing over the weekend, and we found a shop that had a lot of old magazines from the 40's and 50's. Looking through them, we found one, House Beautiful from June, 1951, that had an ad for Simtex tablecloths, and it featured the one that you were questioning."
In my opinion, that alone is a miracle. Finding a fifty year old magazine is fun to start with, since the ephemeral nature of magazines most often leads to their destruction after the subscriber is finished reading them. To find an advertisement for a very specific item in such a publication only eight weeks after a discussion about an item is akin to finding the proverbial needle in the haystack! Seeing the pattern in an advertisement is in itself a wonderful find, allowing me to date the cloth with more accuracy. The next paragraph of Gary’s email gave even more insight and information than I could have hoped:
"It is one of three patterns, the group of which is called 'Al Fresco Prints'. Yours is a pattern called 'Courtyard' that came in three color combinations, moss green and sprout, flame and stone, and rose brick, stone and moss (I kid you not). The other patterns were called 'Hedgerow', kind of a leafy design, and 'Horse Show', self-explanatory. All were designed by a Marion Dorn for Simtex."
It’s wonderful to be able to attribute a midcentury design to any designer, but to a woman designer is something very special. At the time, women were just beginning to gain accolades for their endeavors in industrial design, and most were secondary figures to their male partners. Short of Eva Zeisel's success, we have Mary Wright playing second chair to her husband, Russel. Her influence on his work is hard to dispute, however, especially since it is widely argued that his designs started to falter only after her death. We also have Ray Eames in the background of her husband Charles' great success, despite the fact that her artwork in may instances was much more "alive" than that of her spouse. I personally am thrilled to hear of a female designer getting credit for her work in such a public venue, and look forward to learning more about Marion Dorn and her work.
I’m not sure there’s much more I can say about this discovery, other than "Thanks, Gary!" The only way that we—and collectors in general—can move forward in our knowledge of the past is to rely on more experienced and well-read collectors to share their experience with us. For that, I am grateful.
Found on April 10, 2004 in Minneapolis, MN.
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