Dear Lacemakers, I think it was Alix who asked about Marian Powys two weeks ago, and I have seen no replies to the list.
The Marian Powys' book was republished a couple years ago, and information should be available if you do a web search of her name. I do not own the newer edition. From the original Powys book jacket, "Lace and Lace-Making", 1953, Charles T. Brandford Company, Publishers - I quote: "Marian Powys became passionately interested in lace in her youth and took it up as a life work. She is known as an authority on the subject, having studied and worked with lace as artist, craftswoman, professional, collector, museum expert, and lecturer. "At the beginning of this century (meaning 20th C.) there was a revival of lace making in England with emphasis on good design. Under this influence Marian Powys began to study lace, learning design at the Yeovil School of Art in Somerset. With her first earnings in teaching lace making, she went to Brussels and there studied needlepoint. Some years later she was able to go to Venice, learning there to make Venetian Needlepoint. In 1913 she came to America. "Receiving a gold medal for design and execution of lace from the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1916, she opened the Devonshire Lace Shop, an international lace exchange which continued in New York for 30 years. This was a unique opportunity for the study of lace: collections of the greatest rarity came in constantly to be expertized, appraised and sold, many of them owned by scholarly collectors who filled out her knowledge of the historical and technical background of lace. "Marian Powys was for years consulted by both the U.S. government and the lace importers when difficult cases arose concerning tariff restrictions on lace. In 1950 she became Consultant of Lace for the Metropolitan Museum of New York." My Lace and Embroidery Resource Center library also has a copy of the Phillips - London - auction catalog for Wednesday, 17 June 1992. This auction included the property of the late Marian Powys - something you might be able to search for on the Web. See my next memo - Marian Powys - Part 2, for more information. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
