Grenfell Mission, Mallards in Flight Hooked Rug

Silk, hand-hooked on burlap, Labrador or Newfoundland, 1920s, mounted to a stretched backing, unframed.

53 1/2 x 41 in.

After visiting Labrador on a medical ship, treating the impoverished families of fishermen, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell took matters into his own hands and founded the Grenfell Mission. Enlisting his connections in the upperclass society of England and the United States, Grenfell's mission helped to establish industries in the Labrador and Newfoundland regions of Canada that would benefit the lives of the fishermen's families when fishing along could not suffice. Among many projects, Grenfell established a mat-making program with the help of Jessie Luther, in which people in places such as New York and London could donate their silk stockings and other worn garments to be repurposed and reworked into hooked rugs by the women in Labrador and Newfoundland. These rugs, known as Grenfell mats, were then sold in shops in major US cities, where they became highly collected. Designs were typically "Canadian" scenes featuring subjects such as arctic animals, fishing villages, and scenes from everyday life. The mat-makers were paid by the mission for completed rugs, and given patterns and materials to make new rugs. Grenfell mat production peaked in the 1920s when silk donations were at their highest, but sales waned when the Great Depression set in, and by 1940 with the death of Wilfred Grenfell, the hooked rug industry in Labrador and Newfoundland faded away.

Some minor toning and fading to the colors, light wear at the edges of the textile.