The Blockhouse of Boston facts for kids
The Blockhouse of Boston was a special art and design group. It was started in 1947 by talented students and graduates from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, Massachusetts. These artists worked together to create amazing original textiles.
Their main designer, Janet Doub Erickson, and others made things like curtains, wall hangings, table cloths, and unique clothing decorations. They were experts in two cool printing methods: linoleum blockprints (also called linocuts) and screen printing. Blockhouse was famous for using themes from New England, like Boston's history, mixed with bold designs from other cultures. Sometimes their art looked like ancient pre-Columbian art, and sometimes it had a modern feel. For example, Janet Doub Erickson found ideas from places like New Guinea, China, Guatemala, and even Native American reservations. But often, she just looked around Boston for inspiration!
Contents
How the Blockhouse Started and Worked
A Place for Artists to Create
The Blockhouse was founded in 1947 by twelve students and graduates from the Massachusetts College of Art. They wanted to create a place where artists could sell their work directly to people and make a living. They hoped their fresh and skilled designs would help new art styles grow.
Working Together
The Blockhouse started in a gallery in Magnolia, Massachusetts, then moved to Cambridge Street in Boston, and later to a bigger space overlooking Boston Common.
In the beginning, the artists lived together in two small apartments, one for men and one for women, almost for free. They also worked in a studio right there. Each original member paid just five dollars to help rent the first space.
Everyone shared the work, and no one got a regular salary. To earn money, an artist had to design and print something. When their art sold, 70 percent of the money went to the artist who designed it, and the rest went back into the Blockhouse fund. They kept prices low, like $5 a yard for curtain material, so more people could buy their handmade art.
Blockhouse artists did every step of making their designs themselves. This traditional way of working meant they could control their ideas from start to finish. Besides being a place for artists, the Blockhouse also taught classes in screen printing, block printing, ceramics, sketching, and painting.
Over time, the Blockhouse changed from a small, shared group to a more business-focused company. Only two of the original founders, Janet Doub Erickson and Paul Coombs, stayed until it closed in 1955. After that, Janet Doub Erickson moved to Mexico to work on other art projects.
Blockhouse's Big Impact
Reaching Many People
Blockhouse designs were very creative and won many awards. They were important because they used new ways to sell art after World War II. They mixed old art techniques with different designs and smart marketing to reach people all over New England and the country.
From 1947 to 1955, Blockhouse art was shown in famous magazines like Life, Vogue, The New Yorker, and Harper's Bazaar. It was also featured in newspapers like The New York Times and the Boston Globe.
Many companies, like Wesley Simpson, Inc. and Stoffel and Company, copied Blockhouse designs for their own products. This helped Blockhouse textiles become very popular and appear in many advertisements.
Art in Museums and Around the World
Blockhouse art was also shown in important art museums. These included the Fogg Museum at Harvard, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Their work was also displayed in galleries across the country, like the Addison Gallery of American Art and the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts.
The U.S. State Department even included Blockhouse textiles in art shows that traveled to Europe and Israel in the 1950s.
Important Artists
Paul Coombs
Paul Coombs was one of the founders and leaders of Blockhouse. He was older than the other artists and had been in two world wars. He became interested in art while recovering from an injury. Paul focused on the business side of Blockhouse, helping to sell the designs, though he also created some art himself.
Janet Doub Erickson
Janet Doub Erickson was a founding partner, the main designer, and in charge of making the art. She created about 90 percent of all Blockhouse designs! She won many awards and was featured in Life magazine in 1951.
After Blockhouse closed, Janet wrote popular books about block printing, like Printmaking Without A Press and Block Printing on Textiles. She taught block printing in many states and helped make this art form popular again after the war. Later in life, she also wrote about textile design and published a book of her drawings of Boston.
Other founding members included Elaine Biganess and David Berger. Eight other artists also joined Blockhouse, but they were less involved in designing and selling the art.
