Marion Victoria Dorn also known as Marion Dorn Kauffer (born in Menlo Park,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on December 25, 1896—died in

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

, Morocco on January 28, 1964) was a textile designer primarily in the form of wall hangings, carpeting and rugs, however she is also known to have produced wallpaper, graphics, and illustrations. Known for her significant contributions to modern British interiors in particular for her 'sculpted' carpets, she contributed to some of the best-known interiors of the time including the

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 188 ...

Claridges Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. It has long-standing connections with royalty that have led to it sometimes being referred to as an "annexe to Buckingham Palace". Claridge's Hote ...

, the Orion and

the Queen Mary RMS ''Queen Mary'' is a retired British ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard-White Star Line and was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. ''Queen Mary'', along with ...

. In the late 1930s and early 1940s she created

moquette Moquette, derived from the French word for carpet, is a type of woven pile fabric in which cut or uncut threads form a short dense cut or loop pile. As well as giving it a distinctive velvet-like feel, the pile construction is particularly durabl ...

fabric designs for use in London Transport passenger vehicles.

Early life

Marion Victoria Dorn's parents were Diodemus Socrates Dorn (1860–1913), a lawyer, and Camille Johnson (1870–1932); she was one of five children. From 1912 to 1916 she was educated at Stanford University, graduating with a bachelor of arts in graphic arts. She moved to San Francisco and shared a studio in

Russian Hill Russian Hill is a Neighborhoods in San Francisco, California, neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It is named after one of List of San Francisco, California Hills, San Francisco's 44 hills, and one of its original "Seven Hills". Location ...

, with her former tutor, the artist

Henry Varnum Poor Henry Varnum Poor (December 8, 1812 – January 4, 1905) was an American financial analyst and founder of H.V. and H.W. Poor Co, which later evolved into the financial research and analysis bellwether, Standard & Poor's. Biography Born in East A ...

. They were married from July 1919 to October 1923. In 1919 Poor and Dorn moved to New City, and Dorn gained notice as a designer of

batik Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a ''ca ...

s. In Paris in 1923 she met the poster designer

Edward McKnight Kauffer Edward McKnight Kauffer (14 December 1890 – 22 October 1954) was an American artist and graphic designer who lived for much of his life in the United Kingdom. He worked mainly in poster art, but was also active as a painter, book illustrator a ...

(1890–1954), and subsequently resided with him in London from late 1923 to July 1940. They married in 1950 and lived in New York until his death in 1954.

Career

EDWARD McKNIGHT KAUFFER 1890-1954 MARION DORN 1896-1964 Designers lived here in flats 139 141

Dorn's career took off in the early 1920s with her move to London, she was creating batik textiles as well as printing on silk, linen, velvet at the time. Five of her batiks were featured in ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'' magazine in May 1925 which helped her gain popularity and showed her inventiveness. By 1925 her textiles were featured in many specialty stores in London and since her designs were considered "modern textiles" her work was also featured in galleries and museums in London. In 1934 she founded her own company, Marion Dorn LTD. and received commissions from major clients, such as the luxury hotels the Berkeley of London and the London Savoy. The London Passenger Transport Board commissioned Dorn in 1936 to design moquette fabrics for use in vehicles. This led to four designs: 'Chesham' in 1936, 'Colindale' and 'Canonbury' in 1937, and 'Caledonian' in 1942. The designs were still in use in the London Underground into the 1960s. She received an honorary fellowship of the British Society of Industrial Artists in 1957 for her contribution to textile design. She retired to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, in 1962, where she died on January 28, 1964.

Exhibitions

From 1927 to 1939 Dorn's work was exhibited in many influential European exhibitions as well as exports and exhibitions in the United States including the following: * Arthur Tooth Gallery, London (1929), ''Exhibition of Rugs by Marion Dorn and Edward McKnight Kauffer'' * Dorland Hall, London (1933 and 1934), *

Burlington House Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earls of Burlington and was expanded in the mid-19th century after being purchased by the British government. Toda ...

, London (1935), ''Exhibition of British Art in Industry'' * The Universal Exhibition (World's Fair), Paris (1937) *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York (1937), ''Rugs and Carpets: An International Exhibition'' *

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...

(GGIE), San Francisco (1939), maintained exposure in the United States for her work in her absence After returning to New York she worked with multiple firms, including wallpaper manufacturer Basset and Vollum and textile manufacturers A. H. Lee, Goodall Fabrics, Jofa Inc., Mitchell-David, F. Schumacher & Co., and Silkar Studios; longer and more fruitful associations were with Greeff Fabrics Inc. (1956–64), who exported her fabrics to Britain through Warners; the wallpaper manufacturer Katenbach and Warren (''c''.1947–59); and the hand gun-tufted rug and carpet manufacturer Edward Fields Inc., producing over a hundred designs (1949–1962).

Legacy

Dorn completed her last major commission (1960), the carpet for the diplomatic reception room at the White House, Washington, DC. She made a significant contribution to British modern interiors independently and in collaboration with architects such as Oliver Hill, Robert Lutyens,

Serge Chermayeff Serge Ivan Chermayeff (born Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich; russian: link=no, Сергей Ива́нович Иссако́вич; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a Russian-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of ...

Eric Mendelsohn Eric Mendelsohn (born November 1, 1964) is an American film director and screenwriter. Biography Two of his films have been screened in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes: '' Through an Open Window'' in 1992 and '' Judy Berlin'' in 1999., ...

Wells Coates Wells Wintemute Coates OBE (December 17, 1895 – June 17, 1958) was an architect, designer and writer. He was, for most of his life, an expatriate Canadian who is best known for his work in England, the most notable of which is the Modernist bl ...

, and

Brian O'Rorke Edward Brian O'Rorke (1901 – 1974) was a New-Zealand-born British architect and interior designer. Early life and education Brian O'Rorke was born at Fendalton, Christchurch, New Zealand, on 14 June 1901, the third son of Edward Dennis O'Ror ...

, and interior decorators such as

Syrie Maugham Gwendoline Maud Syrie Maugham (''née'' Barnardo, formerly Wellcome; 10 July 1879 – 25 July 1955) was a leading British interior decorator of the 1920s and 1930s who popularized rooms decorated entirely in white. Birth Syrie Maugham was born ...

. A cast bronze bust of Marion Dorn, circa 1930-1931 made by Frank Owen Dobson is at the National Portrait Gallery in London. In 1930s commissioned to design 5.8m circular carpet for Ginie & Stephen Courtauld’s Eltham Palace entrance hall. ‘Its shades of reddish brown, pinkish beige and fawn complemented the marquetry designs on the walls, and the pattern was intended to draw visitors into the drawing and dining rooms.’ taken from English Heritage Guidebook of Eltham Palace.

References

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