The highly talented and prolific Marianne Straub designed 'Straub' (c1966), one of the best known of all moquettes, and widely used on the Underground and buses. Andrew Martin, author of Seats of London (2019), a brilliant 'field-guide' to London Transport moquette patterns, calls it 'subtle and sophisticated'. Here is Queen Elizabeth II blending in with the design on the Piccadilly Line in December 1977. (From 2nd April to 2nd July there will be an exhibition devoted to Marianne Straub at The Fry Gallery in Saffron Walden.)

Many moquette designs cleverly adapt and incorporate the London Underground roundel. This is 'Canonbury' (c1937) by Marion Dorn (1896-1964) who is perhaps more famous for her Art Deco rugs designed for The Savoy, Claridge's, and Eltham Palace. 

Enid Marx (1902-98),'pioneer of pattern', designed at least four classic moquettes for London Underground, following the brief that the material should ‘look fresh at all times, even after bricklayers had sat on it’. This is 'Chevron' (1938) which was used on the Piccadilly and Central lines, and illustrates her discovery that ‘the best method of ensuring the seats would look clean after a period of use was to use strongly contrasting tones and rather brilliant colour’.

After a fascinating C20 Society guided tour of five of the new Elizabeth Line stations, this week we look at moquette (French for 'carpet'), the fabric which covers thousands of London bus and Tube train seats. Many of the designs which are sat upon every day are by women, including the new Elizabeth Line moquette which was created by Wallace Sewell. It is "a progression of the original design on the Liverpool Street to Shenfield line...[and] adds more pinstripe details, as a nod to the suits in the City of London and creating a sense of speed as the line travels from east to west."

The fortunes of the growers of labour-intensive forced Yorkshire rhubarb were given a boost when Martin Parr photographed the sheds and workers for an exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield in 2016. (Interesting fact: Beryl Burton, the outstanding cyclist, worked on one of the rhubarb farms for many years.). It's now possible to see long, slim boxes of this rare rhubarb from growers such as Robert Tomlinson at markets and in specialist food shops, and bakers and chefs are creating delicious seasonal specials with it. 

Continuing the northern rhubarb theme, Brita Granstrom is a Swedish artist living in Berwick-upon-Tweed who has made a speciality of delightful domestic scenes. Rhubarb has featured in many; this is The Mixing Bowl (2022) which immediately suggests a traditional crumble - possibly served with custard. Brita Granström's work is available through Open Eye Gallery and Thompson's Galleries.

In The Vegetable Stall (1885, National Galleries Scotland) by William York Macgregor, one of the Glasgow Boys, the vivid rhubarb stands out against the dark, earthy vegetables, the wooden stand, and the baskets. It is now a classic image of local produce, a world away from washed, measured, calibrated, over-packaged supermarket fruit and vegetables.