-
Complainte (Complaint)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. Certificate of origin signed by the artist n° 1 of 3. 1976. Sautour-Gaillard had his first cartoon woven in 1971 by the Legoueix workshop (a collaboration which was to last), and from then on he designed many very large-scale projects of which the most spectacular was “Pour un certain idéal” a series of 17 tapestries dealing with the theme of Olympianism (property of the Musée de l’Olympisme in Lausanne). If at first close to lyrical abstraction, the artist produced in the 1990’s cartoons superimposing different decorative motifs, textures and figures whose unity originated in the woven texture itself. « Complainte » reveals a certain proximity of the artist, in his early work, to the abstract world of Soulages ou Schneider. We recognise, transposed into the wool medium, the gestures,the overflows, characteristic of the artists of the “envolée lyrique”, in a severely limited range of colours. Bibliography : D. Cavelier, Jean-René Sautour-Gaillard, la déchirure, Lelivredart, 2013, ill.p.162 -
Nymphes et chasseurs (Nymphs and hunters)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop for the Compagnie des Arts Français. 1941. The place occupied by André Planson in the history of tapestry-making is a direct result of the role that was alotted to him by Jacques Adnet in the synthesis of art and design advocated by the Compagnie des Arts Français of which he was the director. As early as 1941, Adnet approached several painters (Brianchon, Vera,... and Planson) to design tapestry cartoons in the context of furniture and interior design : “our intention was to demonstrate that contemporary tapestries have much to contribute to the integrated design of a room” (L. Chéronnet, Jacques Adnet, Art et Industrie 1948). The Compagnie des Arts Français organised throughout the 1940’s tapestry exhibitions on its premises. These ambitious decorative aspirations, which were important in encouraging the renewal of the art of the tapestry, remain however somewhat irrelevant to the preoccupations of Lurçat and his followers. The gracious and joyful attributes (compare with the contemporary creations of Lurçat or Gromaire) of the Compagnie are plainly evident in this cartoon dating from 1941 which brings right up to date the traditional tapestry themes of the hunting scene and bucolic pleasures in a voluntarily innovative style which is highly decorative. Although certain technical innovations typical of the Lurçat doctrine are already assimilated (limited palette, irregular stitch size) it is to be noted that this decorative intention is still influenced by techniques associated with painting (the use of perspective, and shading for flesh colours...) -
Camargue
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop. Complete with certificate of origin signed by the artist n° 4 of 6. 1963. With a taste for the large-scale, influenced by Untersteller at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Hilaire undertook numerous mural paintings. In the same vein, beginning in 1949, along with a number of other artists stimulated by Lurçat, (he would join the latter at the A.P.C.T. Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie) he designed a number of cartoons some of which were woven at Beauvais or at Les Gobelins. His figurative cubist-influenced style (which sometimes approaches abstraction) is immediately recognisable in his tapestry cartoons : in this one, but also for example in the one designed for the Salon Fontainebleau for the ocean liner France, “Sous-bois” (undergrowth) (190 x 988 cm, Pinton frères, reproduced in Le paquebot France, Armelle Bouchet Mazas, Paris 2006p. 169) where shapes and colours are fragmented in a kaleidoscopic fashion. “Camargue” is reproduced in the “Tapisserie d’Aubusson” sample collection of the Guéret Chamber of Commerce and Industry published in the early 1980’s to illstrate the technical competence of the Aubusson workshops. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Hilaire, œuvre tissé, galerie Verrière, 1970 (ill.) Exhibition catalogue, du trait à la lumière, Musée Départemental Georges de la Tour at Vic-sur-Seille, 2010. -
Rambouillet
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop. Complete with certificate of origin signed by the artist, n° 1 of 6. Circa 1970. Perrot began his career as a cartoon designer at the end of the war, making almost 500 cartoons including numerous commissions from the state, most of which were woven at Aubusson. His style which is particularly rich and decorative is eminently recognisable : a crowd of butterflies or birds, most often, stands out against a background of vegetation, reminiscent of the millefleurs tapestries (which would also inspire Dom Robert). René Perrot is essentially an animal artist who habitually uses stylisation. His decorative style is counterweighted here by the extreme realism with which the stag is represented, rare in post-war tapestry. The title of the cartoon is a throw-back to the grand French hunting tradition which he abundantly illustrated, for example in “Sologne”, which was donated to the Musée de la Chasse in Gien by the Mobilier National. -
Les Dauphins (Dolphins)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Picaud workshop. Complete with certificate of origin signed by the artist, n° 6 of 8. 1959. 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 ... Reproduced as n° 95 in Bruzeau, the latter comments : « Perfect symbolism of a theme already treat ed ». It is true that, from the very beginning, Picart le Doux made recurrent use of the theme of the sea, and particularly with “le Dauphin” (the Dolphin) in 1951 (Bruzeau n° 27). This cartoon, though rather more stylised, is typical of the symetry favoured by the artist and is executed in a colour scheme redolent of the sea bed. Bibliography : Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972 -
Composition
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Tabard workshop. Complete with certificate of origin, worn , signed by the artist. 1964 or 1965. From early on in his career, Mortensen, favoured an abstract painting style. He settled in Paris in 1947 and showed his works, with other artists also inclined to geometric abstraction, at the Denise René gallery. In 1952 under the aegis of François Tabard and Vasarely an exhibition titled « 12 original tapestries » opened at the gallery where, in the company of Le Corbusier and Léger, there appeared works by Deyrolle, Taueber-Arp and Mortensen who thus became the first abstract painters to be reproduced in tapestry and a new art form was born (in this context, it must not be forgotten that this is the period where the “Lurçat style” was absolutely dominant) which Gilioli, Matégot and Tourlière will all subsequently claim as their own. Mortensen’s collaboration with the “René-Tabard tapestries” will last until 1968, even though he returned to his native Denmark in 1964. The 14 works of the artist which will be woven are characterised by his large-scale geometrical compositions, using bright, light and contrasting colours in large expanses of colour, which the weavers of the Tabard workshop reproduce with great success. . This tapestry is one of the 3 tapestries woven by the Tabard workshop in 1964-1965 to have no title (cf. Catalogue of the tapestries woven by the Tabard workshop), each of the 3 is a one-off piece. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue, Aubusson, la voie abstraite, Aubusson, Musée départmental de la Tapisserie, 1993 -
Combat devant Florence (Combat before Florence)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Goubely-Gatien workshop. With partially erased certificate of origin. 1966. An enthusiastic mural artist as early as 1937 (he participated in the Exposition Internationale), Lagrange designed his first cartoons in 1945, and became one of the founding members of the A.P.C.T. His early cartoons were expressionist (like Matégot and Tourlière), then his work evolved towards a stylisation (dating from his collaboration with Pierre Baudouin) which would bring him in the 1970’s to a highly refined style using very pure colours. As well as his important rôle in the tapestry renaissance movement of the period (and the state commissions that went with it), Lagrange would become a teacher at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, a regular collaborator with Jacques Tati, a designer of monumental elements incorporated in various architectural projects and a recognised painter close to Estève and Lapicque. In the 1960’s, the artist made various large-scale works based on the mediaeval theme of battles and tournaments, in a geometrical and stylised vision, of which the most noted example is the “Hommage to Paulo Uccello” (280 x 680 cm, of which a copy is kept at the Faculty of Science in Besançon). Here, in a style that is still figurative, Lagrange illustrates a battle scene against the city of Florence in the background with its highly recognisable monuments (the Duomo, the bell tower of the Palazzo Vecchio..) The frieze-like scene, inspired by Uccello’s paintings, shows spears, horses and knights intermingled. Of note : the marled beige and brown background against which these elements stand out is specific to Lagrange and was only rarely used by his co-designers. Bibliography : Cat. Exh. Lagrange tapisseries, Galerie La demeure, 1968, n°4 (reproduit) Cat. Exh. Tapisseries d'Aubusson, Galerie d'Art Municipale, Luxembourg, n°4 in the catalogue (not illustrated) Robert Guinot, Jacques Lagrange, les couleurs de la vie, Lucien Souny editeur, 2005, n°40, illustrated (dimensions given 226 x 268 cm) J.J. et B. Wattel, Jacques Lagrange et ses toiles : peintures, tapisseries, cinéma, Editions Louvre Victoire, 2020 -
Automne-Hiver (Autumn-Winter)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop. Complete with certificate of origin n° 6 of 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 ... The theme of the seasons is a classic in the history of tapestry which was enthusiastically ressuscitated by the 20th century cartoon artists, of whom Lurçat was foremost (cf his Seasons wall hanging commissioned by the state in 1939). For Picart le Doux the inspiration is two-fold : Nature obviously but also Music ; “l’Hiver” (Winter) an allegorical treatment of the theme and one of the best-known works of this artist dates from 1950, but it is the “Hommage à Vivaldi” (Homage to Vivaldi) from 1963, with its 4 seasons represented in symbolic fashion by coloured suns, featuring symbols from the zodiac and fronds of vegetation that is the source of this cartoon where the motifs are reworked in a horizontal format. Bibliography : Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d'art, 1972 -
La cage ouverte (the open cage)
Tapisserie d’Aubusson tissée par l’atelier Berthaut. Avec son bolduc signé de l'artiste. 1953. 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 ... Birds are a recurrent motif in the artist’s work in the first half of the 1950’s (“la cage ouverte” the open cage, one of the most successful works of this artist, dates from 1953, Picart le Doux here comes back to the same cartoon but with a few minimal changes), as well as the tongues of flame punctuating the edges of the cage. Added to this is the limited colour scheme which is not a little redolent of traditional foliage. Bibliography : Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972 Exhibition catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Musée de la Poste, 1980
