ZIKA ASCHER & ARTISTS' SQUARES (lots 78-82)

Introduction
Zika Ascher (1910-1992) emerged as a trailblazing figure in British textiles, art and fashion during the mid-twentieth century. Born into a prosperous Jewish family in Czechoslovakia his familial deep roots in the textile industry shaped his early interest in and knowledge of fabric and design.

In February 1939, Ascher married Lida Tydlitatova. Their honeymoon coincided with the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, forcing the couple to abandon plans and return home. Later that year they relocated to London. In 1942 Ascher and Lida founded Ascher London Ltd, a textile company that would become renowned for its innovation and artistic collaborations.

During the war, Ascher conceived the idea for his iconic 'Artists' Squares' project, a collection of scarves to be designed by contemporary artists. During the war, bright and cheerful head scarves had become popular, a fashion which Ascher embraced as a way to combine industry and fine art making the latter less elitist and more accessible to the general public. The idea was intertwined with increasingly Socialist ideals about culture in Britain. In 1944, he began his collaboration with Henry Moore and Feliks Topolski, primarily screenprinting their designs onto rayon due to rationing.

After the war he travelled to Paris and at the Cafe du Rond Point des Champs-Élysées, Ascher made a series of bold phone calls to leading modern artists proposing to collaborate, including Henri Matisse, André Derain and Alexander Calder. All responded with enthusiasm. He allowed each artist full creative freedom whilst he ensured high standards of production to retain quality, working closely with the artists to ensure the scarves maintained as close a likeness as possible to their designs.

Between 1946 and 1955 fifty-one artists produced designs for Ascher. Among the first to be produced was Barbara Hepworth’s Landscape Sculpture in 1947 (lot 81), and Scottie Wilson’s Under Water Garden - Fish (lot 82) was one of the last. The scarves were issued in limited editions and proved extremely popular, bridging the gap between fine and applied arts and promoting the leading artists of the day in a uniquely wearable way.

ALEXANDER CALDER (AMERICAN 1898-1976) FOR ASCHER
LA MER
signed ascher lower left and calder lower right in the silk
screenprint on silk twill
93 x 95cm; 36 1/2 x 37 1/2in
116 x 118cm; 45 1/2 x 46 1/2in (framed)

Executed in 1947.

Provenance
The Ascher Family Collection

Literature
Valerie D. Mendes and Frances Hinchcliffe, Asher: Fabric, Art, Fashion, London, 1987, p. 65, illustration of another impression illustrated
Konstantina Hlaváčková, The Mad Silkman: Zika & Lida Ascher, Textiles and Fashion, Prague, 2019, p. 92, illustration of another impression