Women in the Field, One and Two

Book cover design for Thomasin Sleigh’s wonderful new novel, Women in the Field, One and Two.

Set in the 1950s, in London and then New Zealand, the novel focuses on two women working in the fine arts – one is a gallery curator, the other a painter, and the novel concerns her paintings created in the 1920s. For the design concept I explored avant garde fabric design and painting by women artists in the 1920s, as well as Russian cubism and design. I created and hand painted a custom pattern using gauche paint. For the book launch I created a large banner based on the main pattern motif.

From the back cover:

“A young British woman in post-war London is tasked with recommending acquisitions for New Zealand’s National Art Gallery. When she ventures into the basement of a charismatic Russian painter three decades her senior, she discovers a solution that reconciles her idea of that far-away country and her own modernist sensibilities. Women in the Field, One and Two explores two women’s creativity and freedom against the backdrop of art history’s patriarchal biases.”

Client: Lawrence & Gibson