Les zèbres (zebras)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop.
With label, n°3/6.
1959.
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Vasarely’s range was so large and the means he employed to express himself so varied that his role in the renaissance of the tapestry could be viewed as an event on its periphary. However, the originator of optic-kinetic art, whose enthusiasm for over-arching syntheses and all-englobing theories was well known and who was aware of the importance of architecture, saw in this particular discipline a means of expression which was conditioned by space, reproduceable (in very limited series, contrary to many of the media he employed) and could also become public and monumental artforms. To this end, his technical choices (enlargements, photographic cartoons, the absence of shading, use of plain colours), and his preferred outreach (exhibitions in Denise René’s gallery) are a clear sign of his desire to reinvent the medium : Vasarely, associated early on with the Tabard workshop from 1951, was thus able to design a hundred or so cartoons which reflect the changing styles of his aesthetic. The theme of the zebra, popular with Vasarely from the 1930’s onwards (who often returned to motifs he had used previously) would provide inspiration for various cartoons from the end of the 1950’s in association with Tabard (“Zèbres”, “Zebra”), then with Pinton (“Les zèbres” [The Zebras)], our tapestry, which is an exact replica of the ‘Zèbres’ cartoon, with modified dimensions and a plum-coloured background instead of black), and finally with Jean Laurent (“Le zèbre”). It focuses the permanence of Vasarely’s inspiration where the use of animal motifs is a pretext for exploring his graphic fascination with the use of black and white (as can be seen in “Gordium” and “Méandre” two abstract cartoons treated as positive-negative versions one of the other) : an interesting permanence of Nature in an art form that has become resolutely informal. Bibliography : Cat. Tapisseries d’Aubusson, galerie Denise René, 1974 Cat. Expo. Aubusson, la voie abstraite, Musée départemental de la Tapisserie, Aubusson, 1993 Hélène Say, l’atelier de tapisserie Tabard à Aubusson, répertoire numérique détaillé des archives écrites, 1996, ill. p.44 R. Guinot, la tapisserie d’Aubusson et de Felletin, Lucien Souny, 2009, ill. p.119 Cat. Expo. Vasarely, le partage des formes, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, 2019
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Sables rouis (retted sands)
Jacques Brachet was an important protagonist of the « New Tapestry » movement ; woven by Pierre Daquin, exhibited by the « La Demeure » gallery in the 1970’s, his innovative and experimental approach to the medium, from the 1950’s onwards, was recognised by the Centre International d’études pédagogiques in Sèvres, by the scenography of “La Tapisserie en France, 1945 – 1985, la tradition vivante” at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and by his inclusion in various promotional events right up to the present day. The specific techniques of his tapestry designs (as opposed to painting) : innovative use of shape and texture, themes taken from the natural world etc. took shape in the 1970s. The title refers to a beach on the île d'Yeu, and ultimately, the treatment can appear (hyper)realistic: sand, tide, foam... are translated into textile; even the cut-outs in the tapestry (frequent in the artist's work) refer to those of a shoreline. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Jacques Brachet, mémoires océanes, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1996, cat. n°31, ill. p.17Tapestry woven in the Brachet workshop. With signed label, n°EA1. 1987.
