Lilian Margery Dring ( Welch; 1908–1998) was a British artist known for her paintings, poster designs and textile designs. needlework and embroidery work.

Biography

Dring was born in Surbiton in Surrey and attended the

Kingston School of Art The Kingston School of Art (KSA) is an art school in Kingston upon Thames, part of Kingston University London. It was first established in 1899 as the Kingston School of Science and Art. In 1930 it was established as a separate school and has b ...

from 1922 to 1926 before studying for three years at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...

in London. After she graduated Dring lived in

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long me ...

and undertook freelance illustration work and also created designs for needlework and embroidery pieces. At the Royal College, Dring was among the first students to take the newly created course in poster design and this led to her submitting a number of poster designs to London Transport during the 1930s. One of these, ''The Modern God of Transport'', was a large design over three poster sheets depicting the god Mercury running the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

network. In 1940 Dring created a series of billboard posters for the Youth Hostels Association after which she appears to have concentrated on textile designs. From 1942 to 1945 textile pieces by Dring were included in

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

exhibitions in the United States. For the 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

she designed and assembled the 100 panel ''Patchwork of the Century''. She was elected a member of the

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society was formed in London in 1887 to promote the exhibition of decorative arts alongside fine arts. The Society's exhibitions were held annually at the New Gallery (London), New Gallery from 1888 to 1890, and roug ...

and exhibited with the Embroiderers' Guild and at the

Whitworth Art Gallery The Whitworth is an art gallery in Manchester, England, containing about 55,000 items in its collection. The gallery is located in Whitworth Park and is part of the University of Manchester. In 2015, the Whitworth reopened after it was transfo ...

. Dring also wrote on arts and craft education for various publications and also wrote and illustrated several books for children. Both the London Transport Museum and the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

hold examples of Dring's poster designs, while the latter also has examples of her embroidery and textile work. A further piece, dating from 1938, is in the

National Museums Scotland National Museums Scotland (NMS; gd, Taighean-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland. NMS is one of the country's National Collections ...

collection while the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

has a 1964 embroidered collage by Dring.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dring, Lilian 1908 births 1998 deaths 20th-century English women artists 20th-century women textile artists 20th-century textile artists Alumni of Kingston University Alumni of the Royal College of Art British embroiderers British graphic designers British poster artists People from Surbiton

Biography

Further reading

References