These Beautiful Walls

What makes the four walls in your favourite room in your home special? Trends come and go but texture will always stand out. Especially if an artist’s hand worked directly with said texture. Read here in These Beautiful Walls to find out. Image left-hand side, Insect by Tadek Beutlich, Esparto grass, Sisal and Wool, c 1984

When we approach the decoration of a room probably one of the first choices is paint or wallpaper. But the most adventurous may well go for a hanging piece of wall art such as a tapestry.

The newest trend in wallpaper for 2025 is not so much a soft floral but more a mural out of wallpaper. Some of these may cover a whole wall or others may work within a small section. From full landscapes to small complete patterns surrounded even by mouldings are in mode.

Capricorn Boringdon by Little Greene. This mural is inspired by sections of historic early 19th century panels by Velay and Zuber, and has been repainted by hand to reflect idealised and stereotypical depictions of landscapes that were considered at the time to be ‘romantic’ or ‘exotic’. This contemporary reproduction features luscious landscapes incorporating monkeys and tropical birds across three panels. Produced in one neutral and three colourful variations, this paper is designed to bring dynamism and interest to any interior.

Other tips for 2025 include classic designs depicting flora and fauna but in stronger colours than years before. Like with the S/S 25 catwalk trend, plaids and checks are big this year, as well as gold bronzes and other metallics finishes.

One of the biggest trends for 2025 is the textured wall; from rugs to wooden panels, via mats and tapestries. If you can’t wallpaper a room a mural hung up can be a wonderfully celebratory element. Especially if you are lucky enough to have a piece made by an artist.

Tadek Beutlich Ditchling Grasshopper

Some artists worked with woven or tapestry-style wall hanging coverings and have worked with unusual fabrics not just wool, sisal, jute and grasses. Take for example visionary textile artist and teacher Tadek Beutlich.

Polish-born Beutlich 1922 – 2011, lived in Ditchling, Sussex, in the late 60s and early 70s, had a distinctive style and approach, and by doing so, he challenged the usual definitions of the craft categorisation which usually befell this type of work.

Tapestry double weaving wool – Tadek Beutlich c 1955

Interesting were the materials he used. Initially, naturals such as Sisal and Jute, Mohair and Horsehair, but whilst living in Spain, he added Esparto grass, into his works. Yet his earlier works contained pieces of organic material such as charred Wood and in some cases celluloid Film or x-ray Film.

He also made intricate freestanding off-loom pieces and vibrant relief prints using tree sections, Lycra and foam Rubber. Beutlich’s bold, innovative approach to materials, coupled with his fearless experimentation, gave him countless artistic lives.

Beutlich Grabowski Gallery cat. 1968-69

As an artist, weaver and tapestry maker, he would sometimes make prints and textiles using the same imagery, yet he believed that to plan out a tapestry or weaving by sketching it with pencil onto paper beforehand was to do a disservice to the material that he worked with.

His complex relationship between fine arts and craft had much to do with his early years as a student. Initially, he studied in Poland where one of his teachers had a profound effect, advising him “not to think just do it”, an ethos which resonated throughout his career.

After the Second World War, he enrolled as a student of painting and drawing at the Sir John Cass Institute in London, transferring later to Camberwell School of Art and Crafts and graduating with a degree in Textiles in 1950. But it was a trip outside London with a different teacher that became another mark in his career trajectory.

His teacher, weaver Barbara Sawyer (weaver ) and he visited Ethel Mairet (1872-1952) a handloom weaver,  at her home and workshop, Gospels. Mairet’s imaginative treatment of yarns went on to have a profound influence on Beutlich and his subsequent practice.

Vibrant relief prints such as Pollination I (c1973) made using Lycra, show his innovative style.

It was this area, and then, ultimately the house and studios of Gospels that he decided to live in. It became a time that marked the height of his commercial and international success, solidifying his reputation as one of the world’s leading textile artists.

As well as weaving he ventured into printmaking with the same innovation and freedom as he did textiles, printing without a press, but instead by walking on his works to make impressions.

Beutlich experimenting with techniques and using wood, metal and found objects in his prints. He would walk on his prints as a substitute for a press, stamping by foot to imprint the design. This approach came out of necessity and choice. He could not afford a press, but he also liked the freedom that this method gave him. Like many a great innovator, necessity was his mother of invention.

Wall hanging by Tadek Beutlich, burnt wood, jute and X-ray film, c 1967

Beutlich’s skill as a printmaker was recognised early in his career when his prints were selected to be exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He went on to produce prints for publishers, Editions Alecto, a publisher of limited edition prints until 1974.

NEW Pollination I – Tadek Beutlich c1973

When we think of tapestry or murals we may well picture something in gentle tones and calming natural hues, but not Beutlich. His works enter into the realms of surreal and sculptural far from the ‘homeliness’ of much in the perceived world of craft. Colour texture shape and size all played their part in the constructed artworks. He crossed boundaries as much as he challenged expected materials and conventions.

Beutlich taught and sold work across the world. He said he had seven-year cycles of work and changes in practice can be seen across his career. He created traditional flat tapestries of wool and cotton originally influenced by work by Lurçat that he saw in an exhibition at the V&A and later he used similar abstracted imagery of natural forms and creatures in his printmaking.

His style quickly evolved and went through rapid changes, he began making avant-garde open-weave hangings, experimenting with charred wood, horsehair and acetate.

Then, in Ditchling, working at Gospels, Beutlich made several large monochrome works that are said to reflect his subconscious grappling with wartime experiences.

A new book and an exhibition bring new light to the works of this impressive artmaker. One whose hands seemed to be very much entwined with his pieces.

The Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft is presenting the first institutional exhibition dedicated to his work in the UK for over 25 years.  Alongside is a book by Emma Mason Gallery which has been re-published with a new chapter about Beutlich’s time in Ditchling, written by museum Director Steph Fuller in time for the exhibition.

Working with basket maker Tim Johnson, the museum will also publish Beutlich’s unfinished manuscript featuring his off-loom weaving illustrations.

Johnson will make a new commission in response to Beutlich’s work. He has undertaken detailed practice-based research (supported by Emma Mason Gallery and West Dean College) using an incomplete manuscript by Beutlich describing his techniques for ‘Free Warp Tapestry’. The manuscript features illustrations by Beutlich, intended to instruct the reader on his off-loom weaving techniques. Tim will also lead two workshops about Beutlich’s techniques during the exhibition.

So yes you can cover your walls with paint, paste them with wallpapers, murals or panels, or you can step outside of the safety of both and hang a tapestry or woven artwork, something a little more three-dimensional and exciting, on that has been woven with artestry.

 Tadek Beutlich: On and Off the Loom 18 January – 22 June 2025, www.ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk. Tadek Beutlich: On and Off the Loom is presented in partnership with Emma Mason Gallery, who hold the Tadek Beutlich archive www.emmamason.co.uk.
If you enjoyed reading These Beautiful Walls why not read Grewel’s Windows to the World here

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