Image: Centro de Arte la Regenta, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Compton Verney in Warwickshire is preparing to open ‘The Pattern of Life: Enid Marx and Modern British Design’, a major exhibition that runs from 18 July 2026 to 3 January 2027. The show is billed as the first to explore the influential patterns of Enid Marx and her community, alongside their impact on modern British design in the 20th century. It brings together textiles, illustrations and other material to trace Marx’s place within the visual language of British design.
Marx is best known for the woven moquette fabric used on London Underground seats and for her illustrations for children’s books. The exhibition also foregrounds work that is less widely discussed: her hand block-printed textiles from around 1925 to 1940 and later designs for fabrics woven for public use from around 1936 to 1947. Compton Verney says the presentation will step into a world of pattern, creativity and modern British design, using Marx’s career to frame a broader account of design culture in the period.
A central part of the exhibition is its attention to Marx’s network of women artists and makers. Compton Verney highlights figures including Ethel Mairet, Phyllis Barron, Dorothy Larcher, Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie and Norah Braden, whose work in handmade pattern and texture shaped the exhibition’s understanding of design as both personal expression and a field of national and imperial meaning. The museum also notes that these practices carry layers of association, including queer identifications, intimacy and kinship, setting Marx’s work within a wider circle of creative relationships.
The show draws on major loans from the Victoria and Albert Museum and other national collections, and also includes loans from the Crafts Study Centre. According to the exhibition information, it will chart Marx’s life through fabric and follow the geopolitics of British design as reflected in her work. The project has support from The Thriplow Charitable Trust and The Finnis Scott Foundation.
Compton Verney’s wider summer programme places the exhibition within a site-wide focus on print, pattern and play. The museum says the Gallery zone includes three floors of art and activities, while craft workshops linking art and nature are also part of the season. The venue’s summer material additionally points visitors toward other family-oriented activities across the grounds, but the Enid Marx exhibition remains the main gallery feature.
Public programming for ‘The Pattern of Life: Enid Marx and Modern British Design’ includes free guided tours and a ‘Curator Tour and Tea’ listed for 18 September 2026 from 2pm to 3.30pm. Compton Verney says its exhibition and collection tours take place every Wednesday and Thursday, lasting around 45 minutes, and are free with a valid membership or day ticket. The venue’s opening hours for the galleries are Wednesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 5pm, with grounds open from 10am to 5pm.
