Saturday, August 28, 2010

Florence Broadhurst


I stumbled across this article on 1969 featuring the Australian painter and designer, Florence Broadhurst.


Florence Broadhurst was very much a chameleon starting from being a performer in the 1920's and then a founder of an academy of arts in Shanghai. And then again in the 1930's reinvented herself as a fashion designer in London.


She came back to Australia in the late 1940's where she acheived success with her paintings but in 1959 she went into the wallpaper business where she experimented with pearl and metallic effects.


Florence noticed a trend in imported pheasant motifs and designed the exotic 2 feathered peacocks. This picture was taken of Florence in the 1970s in front of her famous design.


She was tragically murdered in her studio in 1977.


500 of Florence's designs were later picked up by another businessman who formed Signature Prints and are now available as wallpaper, fabric, homewares, accessories and limited-edition artworks.


In 1997 Signature Prints donated Florence's original artwork and silk-screens to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.




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