Trois variations sur un thème géométrique simple (three variations on a simple geometric theme)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Picaud workshop.
With label, n°1/6.
Circa 1970.
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A multi-talented artist, at one and the same time, painter, writer, critic, theorist and art historian, Seuphor moved among the Parisian avant-garde of the 1920’s : he founded the group ‘Cercle et Carré” which took as its philosophy the principles of the neo-plasticism of Mondrian – with whom he was closely associated – and he was always at the forefront of the movement for abstract geometrical art. In the 1950’s he developed his “dessins à lacunes à traits horizontaux” or “drawings with spaced horizontal lines” for which he is principally known as an artist. It is from these works that his tapestries developed, woven in the Manufactures Nationales at the end of the 1960’s. “Three variations....” can equally be seen in this light where black horizontal lines of varying density contrast with plain areas, creating a tension between filled and empty space, alternating colours which can be said to be the essence of neo-plasticism.
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Composition
A major actor in the kinetic art movement (and more particularly lumino-kinetic art), the inventor of “spacio-dynamism” which was intrinsically linked to technological innovations and engineering discoveries of the 60’s and 70’s (information technology...), Schöffer is best known for his scaffolding-sculptures, which he would have liked to develop on a grander, architectural scale (a project existed for a tower in the Défense neighbourhood next to Paris). His multidisciplinary pieces (collaborations with Boulez, Barrault and Béjart), his attachment to the idea of “art total”, and the affirmed desire of public bodies of the period to support kinetic and technological art lead to him being sought out by the centre for textile research of the Mobilier National, for whom he would produce “Murlux”, a work of iinterweaving plastic tubes, set in a metal frame, where the effect of light passing through the structure could be explored by the spectator from all angles. This piece would not be followed by further development of the theme but 2 other cartoons were produced by the Manufactures Nationales (“Vartap I and II”), in a rather less challenging optical art style redolent of Vasarely or d’Agam. This cartoon lies somewhere between the projects described above : the materials used are undeniably associated with the medium (even though there is an abundant presence of metal threads), and the piece is definitely two-dimensional; however, the strips and indentations are a throw-back to the heterogeneous constructions of the artist’s sculptures (even though the underlying principle is one of symmetry) : an exceptional cartoon which is a rare illustration of the work of a profoundly original artist.Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop. With label signed with the artist's stamp, n°1/6. Circa 1990. -
Bouquet d'octobre (october bouquet)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. With label, n°5/6. Circa 1980.It was in 1953 that Jean Picart le Doux proposed to Chaye to become his assistant and encouraged him to design tapestry cartoons : he would produce numerous bucolic cartoons, but also views of Normandy (Mont Saint Michel, Honfleur, regattas,...) whence he came. The theme of the bouquet is omnipresent in Chaye’s work ; it allows him seasonal or chromatic associations of great decorative value. -
Petite harpe des bois (little harp of the woods)
Tapestry woven in the Picaud workshop. Complete with certificate of origin signed by the artist's widow, n°3/6. Circa 1975. Jean Picart le Doux is one of the foremost figures in the renaissance of the art of tapestry. His earliest contributions to the field date back to 1943 when he designed cartoons for the passenger ship “la Marseillaise”. A close associate of Lurçat, whose theories he would adopt (limited palette, numbered cartoons...), he was a founding member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-cartonniers de Tapisserie), and soon after, a teacher at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. The state gave him several commissions most of them at the Aubusson workshop, and some at the Gobelins : the most spectacular of these being for the University of Caen, the Theatre in Le Mans, the passenger ship France or the Prefecture of the Creuse département ... In as much as Picart le Doux’s aesthetic is close to that of Lurçat, so also is his insipiration and his subject matter, although in a register which is more decorative than symbolic, where he brings together heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon, the stars...), the elements, nature (wheat, vines, fish, birds...), man, literary quotation ... This cartoon refers back to « la harpe des forêts”, the sylvan harp, of 1953 (Bruzeau n°45). The link between music and nature is a leitmotiv in the work of Picart le Doux : these tapestries are often animated by birds outlined agains the vertical background of the strings. Bibliography : Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972 Exhibition catalogue Jean Picart le Doux Tapisseries, Musée municipal d’Art et d’Histoire, Saint-Denis, 1976 Exhibition catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Musée de la Poste, 1980 Exhibition Catalogue le salon de musique, église du château, Felletin, 2002, ill. p.54
