Jour d'été (summer day)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Four workshop, edited by Jean Laurent.
With label, n°EA.
1989.
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Hommage à Vivaldi (a tribute to Vivaldi)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Berthaut workshop. With signed label. 1963. 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 inspiration 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). Here, Seasons, Zodiac, Music (in the title only) coexist: the work is a vast synthesis of the artist's various sources of inspiration. The colour graduation and specific attributes (the iconography is traditional) allow us to follow the annual cycle. The seasons will also be woven together in pairs, horizontally, in a smaller format (3 m²), and without reference to Vivaldi. Bibliography : Marthe Belle-Joufray, Jean Picart le Doux, Publications filmées d’art et d’histoire, 1966, n°19 Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972, n°139 Exhibition Catalogue, Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Musée de Saint-Denis, 1976, ill. Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Boulogne sur Mer, Bibliothèque municipale, 1978 Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Paris,Musée de la Poste, 1980, ill. Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Abbaye Saint Jean d’Orbestier, 1992, ill. -
Visage (face)
Tapestry probably woven in the Picaud workshop in Aubusson. Circa 1980. -
Le feuillage bleu (the blue foliage)
Tapestry woven by the Baudonnet workshop. With signed label. 1965. 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 inspiration 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 … “Rideau de feuilles” [leaf veil], a larger work from 1962 inspired our cartoon. Bruzeau describes it as having a ‘rigid, austere, symmetrical style’ with a ‘Cistercian accent’. Bibliography : Marthe Belle-Joufray, Jean Picart le Doux, Publications filmées d’art et d’histoire, 1966 Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972, n°148 Exhibition Catalogue, Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Musée de Saint-Denis, 1976 Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Boulogne sur Mer, Bibliothèque municipale, 1978 Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Paris,Musée de la Poste, 1980 Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Abbaye Saint Jean d’Orbestier, 1992 -
Saint-Mars (composition blues black yellow red white)
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. « One of the loveliest » of Mortensen’s tapestries according to Valentine Fougère (Tapisseries de notre temps, Paris 1969), « Saint Mars », a somewhat obscure title, derives directly from an engraving from 1962. The style which is wholly geometric, consisting of blocks of primary colour and surrounded by a frame, is characteristic of this artist’s style in the years 1961-2. This model, which was to be found both at the Mobilier National (bought from the Denise René gallery in 1963) and also at the Cité de la Tapisserie in Aubusson, was woven in 2 sizes : 3 and 6 sqm big, respectively. Bibliography : Madeleine Jarry, la Tapisserie, art du XXe siècle, Fribourg, 1974, ill. n°145 Exhibition catalogue, Aubusson, la voie abstraite, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la Tapisserie, 1993, ill. p.14 (on a photograph of a 1964 exhibition at the Denise René gallery) p.32 Acts of the colloquium, la tapisserie hier et aujourd’hui, Paris, 2011, ill. n°6 p.213 Visitor’s guide, nef des tentures, Cité internationale de la Tapisserie, Aubusson, 2016, ill. p.84Aubusson tapestry woven in the Tabard workshop. With label. 1963. -
Jardin champêtre (country garden)
A painter of weaving cartoons, a master-weaver, director of the Hamot manufacture at Aubusson where he wove most notably Sheila Hicks : the multiple talents of Hecquet are undeniable. That of painter-cartonnier which began at the end of the 1960’s, remains however one of the less well-known, as is the case for numerous other artists of the same generation.Aubusson tapestry woven in the Hamot workshop. With signed label, n°3/6. 1980. -
Voleur de soleil (Sun thief)
Originally a sculptor exploiting very diverse materials (steel, concrete, clay…), Borderie came to tapestry with immense enthusiasm in the 1950’s with the weaving of his first cartoon in 1957. Receiving encouragement from Denise Majorel, he was awarded the Grand Prix National de la Tapisserie in 1962. In 1974 he was appointed as director at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs at Aubusson but he resigned from this post shortly thereafter. He designed over 500 painted cartoons, abstracts using simple shapes, shading in a limited palette of colours and weaving with gros points. A dynamic abstraction with a limited colour scheme running from orange to brown, same preoccupations with light (and shadow) as in ‘les armes de la lumière’ (and as in Matégot's work).: a classic cartoon from André Borderie. Here we find the Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue André Borderie « pour l’homme simplement », Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1998 Exhibition Catalogue André Borderie et la tapisserie d’Aubusson, Aubusson, Manufacture Saint-Jean, 2018Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. With signed label, n°5/6. Circa 1970. -
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. -
Ciel de Sienne (Sky in Sienna)
Fumeron designed his first cartoons (he would ultimately make over 500) in the 1940’s, in collaboration with the Pinton workshop, he was then commissioned on numerous occasions by the state before participating in the decoration of the ocean liner “France”. His work was figurative to begin with and influenced by Lurçat, then turned towards abstraction, before coming back to a style characterised by colourful figurative and realistic depictions from the 1980’s onwards. The title and the subject of this cartoon combine in a subtle play on words : the opposition of « terre » the earth (the colour sienna in French is “terre de Sienne” ) and “ciel” the sky allows the artist to depict, on a shaded ocre (sienna) background his birds and sun-circle, in the deorative vein so redolent of this particular artist.Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop. N°4/6. Circa 1960. -
Portrait de famille (family portrait)
Elie Grekoff, whose aesthetic is similar to that of Lurçat, designed over 300 cartons until the early 1980s. Here we find the sharp shapes typical of tapestry in the immediate post-war period. The use of humour in the title transforms what is traditionally a conventional subject (particularly in Lurçat's work).Tapestry woven by the Atelier de Tapisserie d'Angers . With signed label, n°4/6. 1972.
