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Humphrey Spender’s tapestry design Phoenix was designed for Dovecot Studios in 1950, after their incorporation as Edinburgh Tapestry Company, and completed in 1951. At this time, resident Dovecot weavers were producing tapestries designed by English designers who were well established in the 1930s, which is referenced in Elizabeth Cumming’s book, The Art of Modern Tapestry: Dovecot Studios Since 1912. The studio at that point was directed by Ronald Cruickshank who would leave in December 1953. The weavers of the Spender tapestry were probably Cruickshank himself, possibly with John Loutit. This rare and prestigious tapestry was formerly owned by Sir Harry Jefferson Barnes, who acquired the Edinburgh Tapestry Company in 1954, when Sax Shaw was appointed artistic director. Whilst Phoenix was not shown at The Festival of Britain of 1951, the year it was woven was a significant time. The Festival marked the Centenary of The Great Exhibition and was a nation-wide initiative of regeneration and optimism after the dark years and destruction of the War. The visual arts were displayed throughout the country and in London on the South Bank a major exhibition took place. The title, Phoenix (Blackbird), makes its impulse to regeneration explicit and the choice of the blackbird as a quintessentially British songbird, both ordinary and emblematic, celebrates creativity. The design is brilliantly adapted for the medium using both colour and movement to push the motif to its crescendo.
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