Indiennes, Toile de Jouy and France’s Global History of Printed Cotton Textiles

Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship 2023-25 and British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant

‘Indiennes’ or ‘toiles peintes’ were names given to printed cottons– often bright florals– used for clothing and soft furnishings, and first imported from Asia to Europe in the late sixteenth century. New French centres of production developed after 1759, in particular Christoph-Philippe Oberkampf’s manufactory at Jouy-en-Josas, near Versailles. From the mix of imitations and hybridizations, new designs emerged as ‘toiles de Jouy’– monochrome red, blue or black on a bleached background variously depicting rococo pastorals, chinoiserie, or other ‘exotic’ elements. Toile de Jouy later enjoyed a series of revivals, was promoted by Dior and Hermès, and became for many the acme of bourgeois living. Today Oberkampf has the accolade of a Paris métro station named after him. If people are unaware of the fabric’s exact origins then its recognizability sparks an immediate emotional connection.

The project disrupts the teleology and quintessential ‘Frenchness’ of that narrative by analysing production and consumption of printed cotton textiles in the wider global context. It will result in a book, a visual and cultural study that accounts for colonial history, including slavery and the politics of nationalism. Research began serendipitously at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, where a print by Rouen manufacturer Feldtrappe (c. 1825), after paintings by George Morland, carries an explicitly abolitionist message. What of wider supply chains, and the interplay of (enslaved) bodies and fabrics? Franco-Indian connections have long been overshadowed by the stronger colonial imprint of the British, and the research seeks to redress this.

The project also explores transnational networks, communities and knowledge exchange: Oberkampf- a Protestant and Swabian immigrant- was incorporated into French national myth in the nineteenth century, even as the original copper plates were being bought up by fabric producers overseas. Additionally the study identifies recurring tropes, emotions and imaginative responses to the fabrics, and shows how these have political resonance. Indiennes and toiles de Jouy were associated with relaxation and informality, drawing on oriental fantasies of sensuality. A crucial space was the bedroom, on account of actual bed covers and hangings but also the dream-like qualities of the motifs.

The Leverhulme Fellowship and BA Leverhulme research grant are supporting the research through a teaching buyout, and through travel to archives and collections in Roubaix, Mulhouse, Paris, Jouy-en-Josas, Nantes, and Ahmedabad. Upon completion, new audiences will be able to discover these visually stunning designs and their complex history.