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Marion Dorn, 1899 - 1964.

Main details

Main details for this item.
Reference number
1998/111001
Name
Marion Dorn
Preferred name
Marion Dorn
Born
1899
Collection
Object type
  • Person
Completeness
17%
  • Biography

    AttributeValue
    Biography
    Marion Victoria Dorn was born in San Francisco in 1899. She studied graphic art at Stamford University where she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Education (Graphic Art) in May 1916. In 1923 she came to England to begin her career and began by designing resist-printed (batik) fabrics and soft furnishings. Her works were sold through several specialist outlets including 'Modern Textiles'. Dorn's connections with this particular shop lead to her work being exhibited at various London galleries and at the European Arts and Crafts Exhibition at Leipzig in 1927. In 1929 she illustrated William Beckford's 'Vathek' with bold coloured lithographs. In January and February of that year she shared an exhibition of hand-knotted rugs by the Wilton Road Carpet Factory with her partner Edward McKnight Kauffer. From this time Dorn became a prolific designer of modern and often abstract textiles and carpets for interiors in private and public buildings, including the Savoy and Claridges and for liners such as the Orion and Queen Mary. During the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s her work was frequently exhibited. In 1932 as part of an Exhibition of Modern British Embroidery at the Victoria and Albert Museum, an entire wall was hung with Dorn's rugs. In 1934 she founded Marion Dorn Ltd. Her clients included Warners, Syrie Maugham, Gordon Russell and Donald Brothers. In 1936 Dorn was commissioned by Christian Barman to design moquette fabrics for use in London Transport's passenger vehicles. Between 1936 and 1942 she designed four moquettes for LT: Chesham (1936), Colindale (1937), Canonbury (1937) and Caledonian (1942). These moquette designs featured small scale, tight, abstract repeating patterns and were therefore a break away from the sweeping decorative statements which were evident in her other work. Marion Dorn lived with the renowned poster designer McKnight Kauffer from 1923 (they married in 1950). They worked together on a number of commissions, such as their work for the Orient Line. Dorn and Kauffer left England in 1940 for America, however they were never to achieve a similar level of success there. In 1957 she was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists of Great Britain. Dorn left her career in New York to set up a studio in Tangier, but unfortunately died on 28 January 1964 shortly after its establishment.
    Role
    Artist,