'Pause on the Landing' Patrick Caulfield tapestry installed at the British Library

On 19th January 2006 Pause on the Landing, a large scale tapestry designed by the prominent artist Patrick Caulfield will be hung in the British Library Conference Centre. The tapestry was one of the final projects by Caulfield who died in September this year aged 69 and will be hung days before what would have been Caulfield's 70th birthday.

Based on the novel Tristram Shandy by Laurence Stern, Pause on the Landing was commissioned by the British Library's architect Sir Colin St John Wilson in collaboration with Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh. The resulting 10 x 14ft tapestry took over 900 hours to complete by three master weavers and is the final piece of art work intended to be housed in the British Library following the completion of the St Pancras site in 1998.

The tapestry takes its name from an incident in Tristram Shandy where Tristram's father Walter Shandy and his Uncle Toby pause on the landing of the staircase as they descend from the bedroom where Walter Shandy has been bemoaning the damage done to his son's nose during birth. These incidents have been woven into the tapestry and references from the novel include a large pink triangle representing Tristram's nose, a clock face, the top of a crutch, the staircase, and at the centre of the tapestry, the moon that could be the observing figure of either Tristram Shandy or Laurence Stern. Patrick Caulfield's notes on the themes of the design will be hung alongside the tapestry in the British Library Conference Centre.

Dovecot Studios has worked with highly regarded and talented designers for over 90 years. Stanley Spencer, Cecil Beaton, David Hockney, Frank Stella and Elizabeth Blackadder have all collaborated closely with the Studios' weavers to produce tapestries and wall hangings. Their tapestries hang in public and private collections worldwide including the V&A, The National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh, and the PepsiCo Headquarters in New York. Pause on the Landing is the second tapestry by Dovecot to be commissioned for the British Library. Hung in the main Entrance Hall, the first tapestry based on R.B. Kitaj's 'If not, not' was the largest tapestry to have been made in the United Kingdom.

'Pause on the Landing' was made possible by the generous donation of Mr Simon Draper.

For further information or images, contact Victoria Main at the British Library Press Office: +44 (0)20 7412 7112 or Victoria.Main@bl.uk

Notes for Editors

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