Jacqueline and Jacques Groag, textile and wallpaper designer and architect: papers

Scope and Content

Jacqueline Groag's papers: journals (ca.1930 - 1965); tearsheets (ca.1930 - 1965); personal papers including certificates, notes and photographs (1930s - 1970s); press cuttings (1940 - 1965); exhibition catalogue (1945); cover designs for magazines (1948 - 1953); wallpaper samples (1950s - 1960s); photographs of textile designs relating to the Festival of Britain (1951); correspondence (1976 - 1985); artwork (Undated); design for tablecloth (Undated); designs (Undated); designs depicting dolls (Undated); designs for wrapping paper (Undated); leaflets and photographs relating to designs for laminated prints (Undated); linocuts (Undated); photocopies of designs (Undated); photographs of designs (Undated); photographs of textile designs (Undated); press cuttings and tearsheets relating to carpet, textile and wallpaper designs (Undated); printed designs (Undated); rough designs (Undated).

Jacques Groag's papers: architectural papers relating to exteriors of buildings (ca.1929 - 1939); photographs of interiors of buildings with annotations (1930s); journals (1932 - 1978); correspondence (1936 - 1956); personal papers including certificates, photographs and notes (1942 - 1962); press cuttings (ca.1945 - 1957); correspondence relating to articles (1978 - 1979); designs for furniture (Undated); tearsheets (Undated); The story of furniture written by Jacques Groag and Gordon Russell , with sketches inserted (Undated).

Administrative / Biographical History

Jacqueline Groag nee Hilde Blumberger (1903 - 1985) studied in Vienna in the 1920s under Josef Hoffmann and Frank Cizek at the Kunstwerbeschule . She worked for the Wiener Werkstatte and in 1929 obtained work in Paris designing dress fabrics for leading couturiers. In 1931 she became engaged to Jacques Groag whom she married in Vienna in 1937. In 1939 she and her husband settled in London where she designed textiles for companies such as Edinburgh Weavers and David Whitehead . For more than 20 years she worked as a freelance designer, supplying designs for carpets, greetings cards, laminates, plastics, textiles, wallpapers and wrapping papers to many firms, including Bond-Worth Carpets , British European Airways , the British Overseas Airways Corporation , Dunlop , ICI and London Transport . In 1984 she became a Fellow of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry .

Jacques Groag (1892-1962) was born in Olomouc, Moravia. He trained as an architect in Vienna and subsequently joined Adolf Loos ' office. He set up his own practice, ca. 1926, and became one of the leading avant-garde architects in Vienna, working on housing projects, private houses and public buildings. In 1939, after coming to Britain, he joined Gordon Russell 's team designing utility furniture. At the end of the Second World War he produced designs for exhibitions including Britain Can Make It in 1946 and the Festival of Britain in 1951. He also worked on interior schemes and furniture designs. In 1952 he became a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists.

Access Information

This archive collection is available for consultation in the V&A Study Rooms by appointment only. Full details of access arrangements may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.

Access to some of the material may be restricted. These are noted in the catalogue where relevant.

Acquisition Information

Given by Stefan Buzas, 1994, AAD/1994/2.

Purchased from Peter Highley, 1995, AAD/1995/17.

Other Finding Aids

This online catalogue is a complete description of the archive to item level. A summary description is also included on the National Art Library computer catalogue, and in the published Guide to the Archive of Art and Design .

Conditions Governing Use

Information on copying and commercial reproduction may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.

Related Material

V&A Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings hold a number of designs by Jacqueline Groag.