Savin Maurice

    A versatile artist (engraver, medal maker, ceramist, fresco painter, etc.), Savin was approached during the war by Guillaume Janneau, who admired the timeless and realistic monumentality of his aesthetic (and suspected that it would need no transposition to suit the Tapestry), to design cartoons for the Manufactures Nationales: "Les plaisirs et les travaux champêtres" (The Pleasures and Labors of the Countryside) (four cartoons), then "Les 12 mois de l'année" (The 12 Months of the Year) were created simultaneously with his work with the Compagnie des Arts Français. The influence of the technical aspects of medieval tapestry is very evident in the artist's work, with its focus on a limited range of natural dyes and the simple shapes made possible by the gros point technique. He was one of the most represented artists at the seminal exhibition in 1946, with seven pieces (only Lurçat, Saint-Saëns, and Gromaire had more). "La cueillette" (The Harvest) is contemporary with the cardboard designed for the Gobelins: "La cueillette des pommes" (Apple Picking), from the tapestry series on "les plaisirs et travaux champêtres" (country pleasures and labors). It displays the same characteristics typical of the artist: a limited but vivid color palette, simplified and monumental forms, a dense composition, and a rustic flavor straight out of medieval tapestry.     Bibliography: Exhibition catalog. French Tapestry from the Middle Ages to the Present Day, Paris, Museum of Modern Art, 1946. Exhibition catalog. The National Furniture and National Manufactories under the Fourth Republic, Beauvais, National Tapestry Gallery, 1997. Exhibition catalog. The Gobelins Manufactory in the 1^era Mid-20th Century, Beauvais, National Tapestry Gallery, 1999