Althea McNish at The Whitworth (x 2)

 

This post reflects on two visits to the Althea McNish 'Colour Is Mine' exhibition at The Whitworth gallery in Manchester in 2023. The first visit was in March with my college course and the second in May was a tour by the curator Rose Sinclair.

On the first visit I was unfamiliar with the work of Althea McNish and was mainly struck by the colours and the enduring appeal of her designs. I particularly loved the dresses set against a backdrop of hanging textiles and the vibrancy of the colour combinations. I was also interested by how her designs from the 70s really evoked memories of that time for me.

Vibrant colours dominated my first visit

On my second visit, my experience of the exhibition was quite different. Rose Sinclair talked to us about McNish from the point of view of a friend as well as being someone who has studied McNish's career in detail. Her explanations explained how quickly she moved from Art School to producing designs for Liberty and then on to Heals and others. 

Others in the group knew McNish's husband and described how proud and happy they would be to see the recognition her work was now getting. This second visit gave a real insight into the individual and her motivation and was a lovely complement to the first visit and made me realise that seeing things more than once can give a quite different perspective.

The second visit focussed more on McNish's journey as a designer and I was drawn to different pieces