Portière 1901, lost and found. Arts and Crafts needlework in South Australia, Jo Vandepeer
Abstract:
From either ends of the globe, Portière 1901 has been rediscovered. Over 120 years ago, it was created to commemorate the colony of South Australia joining the Federation of Australia. The Portière was commissioned and made by the first women in the world to gain both the right to vote and to stand for parliament. The impressive 233.0 x 178.0 cm embroidered silk object represents the pinnacle of a golden age of Art Needlework embroidery. However, questions surround it. Just seven years after their enfranchisement, why did South Australian women give members of the British royal family an object that was ostensibly a domestic curtain? Even more intriguing, how did it fall so far into obscurity within the Royal Collection itself that when enquiries were made in 2023, it could no longer be located? This article tells the forgotten story of its origins and in doing so, places it back into the colonial history of the Australian Arts & Crafts Movement.
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