Belle entente (nice relationship)
Tapestry woven in the DMD workshop, Tournai.
With label.
1989.
-
Edmond Dubrunfaut can be considered as the great 20th century renovator of the Belgian tapestry tradition. He founded a weavers’ workshop in Tournai as early as 1942, then, in 1947, created the Centre de Rénovation de la Tapisserie de Tournai. He produced for various Belgian workshops (Chaudoir, de Wit,...) numerous cartoons destined notably to adorn Belgian embassies throughout the world. Moreover, Dubrunfaut was a teacher of monumental art forms at the Academie des Beaux-Arts de Mons from 1947 to 1978 and then, in 1979, contributed to the creation of the Fondation de la tapisserie, des arts du tissu et des arts muraux de Tournai, a veritable heritage centre for the art of the tapestry in Wallonie. His style, characterised by figuration, strong colour contrasts, draws direct inspiration from nature and animal life (as with Perrot, for example, this artist has a net predilection for birdlife). The title refers to the artist's preoccupation with social harmony: the human figure, omnipresent in his early work, returns to illustrate an irenic theme. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Dubrunfaut et la renaissance de la tapisserie, tableaux, dessins, peintures, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons, 1982-1983.
-
Oiseaux (birds)
Edmond Dubrunfaut can be considered as the great 20th century renovator of the Belgian tapestry tradition. He founded a weavers’ workshop in Tournai as early as 1942, then, in 1947, created the Centre de Rénovation de la Tapisserie de Tournai. He produced for various Belgian workshops (Chaudoir, de Wit,...) numerous cartoons destined notably to adorn Belgian embassies throughout the world. Moreover, Dubrunfaut was a teacher of monumental art forms at the Academie des Beaux-Arts de Mons from 1947 to 1978 and then, in 1979, contributed to the creation of the Fondation de la tapisserie, des arts du tissu et des arts muraux de Tournai, a veritable heritage centre for the art of the tapestry in Wallonie. His style, characterised by figuration, strong colour contrasts, draws direct inspiration from nature and animal life (as with Perrot, for example, this artist has a net predilection for birdlife). A classic subject for Dubrunfaut, woven in Aubusson by Simone André in the 50s and 60s. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Dubrunfaut et la renaissance de la tapisserie, tableaux, dessins, peintures, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons, 1982-1983.Aubusson tapestry woven by the Simone André workshop. Circa 1950. -
Fleurs (flowers)
Edmond Dubrunfaut can be considered as the great 20th century renovator of the Belgian tapestry tradition. He founded a weavers’ workshop in Tournai as early as 1942, then, in 1947, created the Centre de Rénovation de la Tapisserie de Tournai. He produced for various Belgian workshops (Chaudoir, de Wit,...) numerous cartoons destined notably to adorn Belgian embassies throughout the world. Moreover, Dubrunfaut was a teacher of monumental art forms at the Academie des Beaux-Arts de Mons from 1947 to 1978 and then, in 1979, contributed to the creation of the Fondation de la tapisserie, des arts du tissu et des arts muraux de Tournai, a veritable heritage centre for the art of the tapestry in Wallonie. His style, characterised by figuration, strong colour contrasts, draws direct inspiration from nature and animal life (as with Perrot, for example, this artist has a net predilection for birdlife). A late tapestry by Dubrunfaut, in an ever-renewed decorative vein, woven at the CRECIT in Tournai, where the artist gave many cartoons . Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Dubrunfaut et la renaissance de la tapisserie, tableaux, dessins, peintures, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons, 1982-1983.Tapestry woven by the CRECIT. With label. 1999. -
Les chouettes (the owls)
Edmond Dubrunfaut can be considered as the great 20th century renovator of the Belgian tapestry tradition. He founded a weavers’ workshop in Tournai as early as 1942, then, in 1947, created the Centre de Rénovation de la Tapisserie de Tournai. He produced for various Belgian workshops (Chaudoir, de Wit,...) numerous cartoons destined notably to adorn Belgian embassies throughout the world. Moreover, Dubrunfaut was a teacher of monumental art forms at the Academie des Beaux-Arts de Mons from 1947 to 1978 and then, in 1979, contributed to the creation of the Fondation de la tapisserie, des arts du tissu et des arts muraux de Tournai, a veritable heritage centre for the art of the tapestry in Wallonie. His style, characterised by figuration, strong colour contrasts, draws direct inspiration from nature and animal life (as with Perrot, for example, this artist has a net predilection for birdlife). From 1955 and throughout the 1960s, the Wit manufactory wove a considerable number of tapestries after Dubrunfaut, the human figure soon giving way to floral subjects and, above all, of birds. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Dubrunfaut et la renaissance de la tapisserie, tableaux, dessins, peintures, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons, 1982-1983.Tapestry woven by the de Wit workshop. Circa 1960. -
Papillon (butterfly)
Edmond Dubrunfaut can be considered as the great 20th century renovator of the Belgian tapestry tradition. He founded a weavers’ workshop in Tournai as early as 1942, then, in 1947, created the Centre de Rénovation de la Tapisserie de Tournai. He produced for various Belgian workshops (Chaudoir, de Wit,...) numerous cartoons destined notably to adorn Belgian embassies throughout the world. Moreover, Dubrunfaut was a teacher of monumental art forms at the Academie des Beaux-Arts de Mons from 1947 to 1978 and then, in 1979, contributed to the creation of the Fondation de la tapisserie, des arts du tissu et des arts muraux de Tournai, a veritable heritage centre for the art of the tapestry in Wallonie. His style, characterised by figuration, strong colour contrasts, draws direct inspiration from nature and animal life (as with Perrot, for example, this artist has a net predilection for birdlife). Dubrunfaut, as well as having his works woven in Belgium, gave numerous cartoons to the Four manufacture in Aubusson : birds and butterflies combine with exotic flowers in sharp, bright colours on a midnight blue background. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Dubrunfaut et la renaissance de la tapisserie, tableaux, dessins, peintures, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons, 1982-1983Aubusson tapestry woven by the Four workshop. N°3/6. Circa 1970. -
Les 2 écureuils (the 2 squirrels)
Edmond Dubrunfaut can be considered as the great 20th century renovator of the Belgian tapestry tradition. He founded a weavers’ workshop in Tournai as early as 1942, then, in 1947, created the Centre de Rénovation de la Tapisserie de Tournai. He produced for various Belgian workshops (Chaudoir, de Wit,...) numerous cartoons destined notably to adorn Belgian embassies throughout the world. Moreover, Dubrunfaut was a teacher of monumental art forms at the Academie des Beaux-Arts de Mons from 1947 to 1978 and then, in 1979, contributed to the creation of the Fondation de la tapisserie, des arts du tissu et des arts muraux de Tournai, a veritable heritage centre for the art of the tapestry in Wallonie. His style, characterised by figuration, strong colour contrasts, draws direct inspiration from nature and animal life (as with Perrot, for example, this artist has a net predilection for birdlife). The squirrel is one of the artist's recurring themes (cf. ‘Evening Fires’, ‘Squirrels and Birds’...): here he uses the tails as a decorative motif in their own right.Tapestry woven by the de Wit workshop. With signed label. Circa 1960. -
Jour d'été (summer day)
Edmond Dubrunfaut can be considered as the great 20th century renovator of the Belgian tapestry tradition. He founded a weavers’ workshop in Tournai as early as 1942, then, in 1947, created the Centre de Rénovation de la Tapisserie de Tournai. He produced for various Belgian workshops (Chaudoir, de Wit,...) numerous cartoons destined notably to adorn Belgian embassies throughout the world. Moreover, Dubrunfaut was a teacher of monumental art forms at the Academie des Beaux-Arts de Mons from 1947 to 1978 and then, in 1979, contributed to the creation of the Fondation de la tapisserie, des arts du tissu et des arts muraux de Tournai, a veritable heritage centre for the art of the tapestry in Wallonie. His style, characterised by figuration, strong colour contrasts, draws direct inspiration from nature and animal life (as with Perrot, for example, this artist has a net predilection for birdlife). In this respect the cartoon, with its elongated format in keeping with the bird’s height, represented here in a very realistic fashion, is characteristic of the afore-mentioned predilection. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Dubrunfaut et la renaissance de la tapisserie, tableaux, dessins, peintures, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons, 1982-1983.Aubusson tapestry woven by the Four workshop, edited by Jean Laurent. With label, n°EA. 1989. -
Technique de groupe (group technique)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Novion workshop. With label. 1973.A Benedictine monk and an illuminator, Dom Robert met Jean Lurçat in 1941 at the Abbey of En Calcat : while he never abandoned drawing (his watercolours, painted to life, would serve him as a reservoir of ideas for his tapestries), his work as a cartoonist (he was a member of the A.P.C.T. from its inception) would take on a considerable importance (at least a hundred cartoons, all numbered) and would be highly thought of. His immediately recognisable style, absence of perspective¸motifs inspired from the natural world (in a Paradisiac style) where stylised flora and fauna combine in a festive and extrovert exuberance, where the influence of mediaeval tapestry can be clearly felt ; poetic and colourful, Dom Robert’s cartoons are the incarnation of their author’s spiritual asceticism. Inaugurated in the Spring of 2015, the musée Dom Robert opened its doors in in the monastery-school in Sorèze in the department of the Tarn. Although the theme of horses runs through a lot of Dom Robert’s work (cf. “Dartmoor”, “Compagnons de la Marjolaine”, « Farfadet » …), what makes « Technique de groupe » particularly interesting is its origin and the technical aspects of its realisation : unusually, this cartoon is not numbered ; it was Novion, at the time a teacher at the Ecole Nationale d’Art Décoratif in Aubusson, who asked dom Robert to make a watercolour (now held at the museum in Sorèze), thus allowing the weaver more interpretative freedom, and a very different end result, from work made by the workshops of Goubely or Tabard. Bibliography : Cat. Expo. Dom Robert, tapisseries récentes, Paris, Galerie la Demeure, 1974, ill. p.9 Multi-authored, Dom Robert, Tapisseries, Editions Julliard, 1980, ill. p.68-69 Multi-authored, Dom Robert, Tapisseries, Editions Siloë-Sodec, 1990, ill. p.116-117 Exhibition Catalogue, Dom Robert, œuvre tissé, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1990, ill. Multi-authored, la clef des champs, Dom Robert, Editions Privat, 2003, ill. p. 109 -
Chèvrefeuilles (Honeysuckle/Goats and leaves)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Goubely workshop. With signed label, n°1. 1973. A Benedictine monk and an illuminator, Dom Robert met Jean Lurçat in 1941 at the Abbey of En Calcat : while he never abandoned drawing (his watercolours, painted to life, would serve him as a reservoir of ideas for his tapestries), his work as a cartoonist (he was a member of the A.P.C.T. from its inception) would take on a considerable importance (at least a hundred cartoons, all numbered) and would be highly thought of. His immediately recognisable style, absence of perspective¸motifs inspired from the natural world (in a Paradisiac style) where stylised flora and fauna combine in a festive and extrovert exuberance, where the influence of mediaeval tapestry can be clearly felt ; poetic and colourful, Dom Robert’s cartoons are the incarnation of their author’s spiritual asceticism. Inaugurated in the Spring of 2015, the musée Dom Robert opened its doors in in the monastery-school in Sorèze in the department of the Tarn. Goats and foliage in all their variety, rather than « Honeysuckle » (Chèvre means goat and feuille means leaf in French n.tr.), Dom Robert was never one to turn his back on the possibility of a pun (as in “Plein champ” meaning Open field but to the ear it can be confused with Plainchant tr.n.). It is interesting that a goat appears also in that tapestry design from 1970. Here, on a uniquely large scale for this subject, the goats are displayed against an autumnal background, a reference to “l’Automne” (Autumn) which was the last of the series The Seasons completed in 1943. A similar design is on display at the Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie in Aubusson. Bibliography : Exhibition Catalogue Dom Robert, tapisseries récentes, galerie la Demeure, 1974, ill. p.15, cartoon p.23 Multi-authored, Dom Robert, Tapisseries, Editions Julliard, 1980, ill p.70-71, detail on front cover, cartoon p.85 Multi-authored, Dom Robert, Tapisseries, Editions Siloë-Sodec, 1990, ill. P.62-67 Exhibition Catalogue, Dom Robert, œuvre tissé, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1990 Exhibition Catalogue, Hommage à Dom Robert, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, Aubusson, 1998 Multi-authored, la clef des champs, Dom Robert, Editions Privat, 2003, ill. p.124 Multi-authored, les saisons de Dom Robert, Tapisseries, Editions Hazan, 2014, ill p.164-167 B. Ythier, Guide du visiteur, Cité Internationale de la tapisserie d’Aubusson, ill. p.65 R. Guinot, hors-série la Montagne, une Cité pour la tapisserie d’Aubusson, 2018, ill. p.82 Multi-authored, la tapisserie française, Editions du Patrimoine, 2017, ill. 312-313 -
Holger was a student at the Ecole Nationale d’Art Décoratif d’Aubusson and worked with Lurçat before the latter’s death in 1966. He designed numerous dream-like cartoons woven by the Aubusson workshop. Now settled in the United States, he remains a tireless advocate for, and witness to, modern tapestry design, organising exhibitions and lectures on the subject.
Kosmische Vision (Cosmic vision)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pintron frères workshop. With certificate of origin. Circa 1970. -
Holger was a student at the Ecole Nationale d’Art Décoratif d’Aubusson and worked with Lurçat before the latter’s death in 1966. He designed numerous dream-like cartoons woven by the Aubusson workshop. Now settled in the United States, he remains a tireless advocate for, and witness to, modern tapestry design, organising exhibitions and lectures on the subject.
Feu pour Law (Fire for Law)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pintron frères workshop. With signed certificate of origin, n°1/6. Circa 1970. -
Soleil pour Maria Pia (Sun for Maria Pia)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop. With label, n°1/3. Circa 1970. Holger was a student at the Ecole Nationale d’Art Décoratif d’Aubusson and worked with Lurçat before the latter’s death in 1966. He designed numerous dream-like cartoons woven by the Aubusson workshop. Now settled in the United States, he remains a tireless advocate for, and witness to, modern tapestry design, organising exhibitions and lectures on the subject. -
Nachtsonne (Nightsun)
Tapestry woven by the Münchener Gobelin Manufaktur. With signed label. Circa 1970.Holger was a student at the Ecole Nationale d’Art Décoratif d’Aubusson and worked with Lurçat before the latter’s death in 1966. He designed numerous dream-like cartoons woven by the Aubusson workshop. Now settled in the United States, he remains a tireless advocate for, and witness to, modern tapestry design, organising exhibitions and lectures on the subject. Some of his cartoons have been woven in the two workshops active in Germany, in Nuremberg and Munich, using Aubusson techniques. -
Sonnen-Vision (Suns-Vision)
Tapestry woven by the Münchener Gobelin Manufaktur. With signed label. 1975.Holger was a student at the Ecole Nationale d’Art Décoratif d’Aubusson and worked with Lurçat before the latter’s death in 1966. He designed numerous dream-like cartoons woven by the Aubusson workshop. Now settled in the United States, he remains a tireless advocate for, and witness to, modern tapestry design, organising exhibitions and lectures on the subject. Some of his cartoons have been woven in the two workshops active in Germany, in Nuremberg and Munich, using Aubusson techniques. -
Feuer und Wasser (Fire and Water)
Tapestry woven by the Münchener Gobelin Manufaktur. With signed label. Circa 1970. Holger was a student at the Ecole Nationale d’Art Décoratif d’Aubusson and worked with Lurçat before the latter’s death in 1966. He designed numerous dream-like cartoons woven by the Aubusson workshop. Now settled in the United States, he remains a tireless advocate for, and witness to, modern tapestry design, organising exhibitions and lectures on the subject. Some of his cartoons have been woven in the two workshops active in Germany, in Nuremberg and Munich, using Aubusson techniques. -
Mond und Wasser (Moon and Water)
Tapestry woven by the Münchener Gobelin Manufaktur. Circa 1970.Holger was a student at the Ecole Nationale d’Art Décoratif d’Aubusson and worked with Lurçat before the latter’s death in 1966. He designed numerous dream-like cartoons woven by the Aubusson workshop. Now settled in the United States, he remains a tireless advocate for, and witness to, modern tapestry design, organising exhibitions and lectures on the subject. Some of his cartoons have been woven in the two workshops active in Germany, in Nuremberg and Munich, using Aubusson techniques. -
La huppe rouge (the red hoopooe)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Picaud workshop. With signed label, n°3/6. Circa 1970.Originally from the Limousin region of France (and the daughter of the master glass-blower François Chigot), Delphine Bureau-Chigot devoted a large part of her creative energies (she was also a painter and a pastel artist) to tapestry design (something over a hundred) which were for the most part woven by the Picaud workshop, often evoking a dream-like world where animals (and notably birds) had an important place. -
Composition
Tapestry woven in the Fino workshop, Portalegre. With label of the Suzy Langlois gallery, n°1/6. Circa 1980. -
Henri, détail de "carton 28" (detail from carton 28)
In the 1980s, Aubusson tapestry was in decline. The public authorities then drew up a plan to revive tapestry, and Daniel Riberzani was one of the beneficiaries, becoming the first recipient of a grant from the Centre National des Arts Plastiques for tapestry. In Aubusson, at the ENAD, he discovered the medium, initially adopting numbered cartoons and forging links in the workshops. He then received public commissions for the Gobelins and the Espace Carpeaux in Courbevoie (‘Music and Dance’, a 160 m² tapestry!), among others. Thematic series, in line with his pictorial work, followed one after another: ‘landscapes-events’, ‘intimate paintings’, “writings”, ‘painted cartoons’, etc. The latter, collaged and painted papers from 1993-1994, were designed for possible translation into textiles (tapestries or carpets, depending on the case). ‘Cardboard 28’, from 1993, consists of colourful pinned words, like a border on a neutral grey background in the centre, and although there was no ‘Carpet or Tapestry 28’, the artist had details woven, where « Henri » rubs shoulders with fragmentary “eruption” and ‘sulphur’: a tapestry of margins. Bibliographie : Cat. Expo. Histoire d’une tapisserie ou la rencontre du cannibale et des carnassiers, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la Tapisserie, 1984 Cat. Expo. Tapisseries – Cartons peints, Riberzani avec Bezard, Brandon, Four, Gachon, Scioria, Avallon, Collégiale Saint-Lazare, 1995 Gérard Denizeau, Riberzani peintures intimes 1989-1999, Inard Editions, 1999, ill. n°3, p.159 Daniel Riberzani Œuvres, 2014Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. With signed label, n°1/6. 1993-1996. -
Melinjana
After having established himself at the Gobelins, Daniel Drouin moved to Venasque. He designed numerous tapestries woven on a high-warp loom. The variety of the materials used, his propensity for abstraction and the fact that the artist wove his own designs conformed to certain preoccupations of the “Nouvelle Tapisserie” movement of the time, without however escaping from the 2 dimensional nature of the artform.Tapestry woven in the atelier de la Tuilière. With label. Circa 1970. -
Joyau (gem)
Tapestry woven by the Braquenié workshop. With label, n°1. Circa 1975.A rare example of this artist’s work for the loom : in it we find his characteristically complicated formal arrangements. -
Galathée
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Picaud workshop. Complete with certificate of origin signed by the artist, n° 1 of 4. 1970. Loewer designed his first cartoon in 1953 ; his early works are first figurative before turning to abstraction (like Matégot) which is exclusively geometric in Loewer’s case. He designed over 180 cartoons, most of which were woven by his friend, Raymond Picaud. Only one example of this tapestry was woven according to the catalogue raisonné, « Galathée » is representative of the artist’s style around 1970 where the recurrent design motif is the square used in superpositions. Bibliography : Claude Loewer, l’évasion calculée : travaux de 1939 à 1993, catalogue raisonné des tapisseries de 1953 à 1974, Sylvio Acatos, Charlotte Hug, Walter Tschopp and Marc-Olivier Wahler, Artcatos, 1994, n°120 -
Argos
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Picaud workshop. Complete with signed certificate of origin, n° 1/4. 1971. Loewer designed his first cartoon in 1953 ; his early works are first figurative before turning to abstraction (like Matégot) which is exclusively geometric in Loewer’s case. He designed over 180 cartoons, most of which were woven by his friend, Raymond Picaud. Around 1971-1972, Loewer’s style became more refined, with fewer geometric squares and a brighter, more contrasted use of colour. As is often the case with Loewer, this is a one-off piece. Bibliography : Claude Loewer, l’évasion calculée : travaux de 1939 à 1993, catalogue raisonné des tapisseries de 1953 à 1974, Sylvio Acatos, Charlotte Hug, Walter Tschopp and Marc-Olivier Wahler, Artcatos, 1994, n°128 -
Composition
A friend of both Bertholle and Le Normand, with whom he produced several frescoes in the 1940’s, Idoux produced his first tapestry cartoon in 1946 and joined the A.P.C.T. in 1951. His tapestries, where geometrical and optical effects resonate in a grand harmony (and this is only the beginning of the 1950’s!) hark back to his work in stained glass (the church of Notre Dame in Royan for example). As a confirmation of his meteoric rise in the world of tapestry (producing around twenty cartoons in ten years), official recognition came with a commission for two tapestries “Jardin Magique” and “Fée Mirabelle” which were created for the 1st class saloon of the Atlantic ocean liner “France” (“Jardin Magique” is now kept at the eco-museum in St Nazaire).Aubusson tapestry woven in the Rivière des Borderies workshop. Circa 1950. -
Composition
Claude Bleynie discovered the art of tapestry with Jean Picart le Doux in 1952. He exhibited at the La Demeure gallery (from 1958) and participated in the main exhibitions devoted to mural art. His tapestry production counts more than 300 cartoons, mainly realised by the Andraud workshop. Bleynie, in a more abstract vein (which can also be found in his tapestries) notably designed cartoons for rugs which were intended for the luxurious appartment christened “Ile de France” on the ocean liner “France”. Bleynie, who also worked as a set designer in the theatre, designed numerous cartoons inspired by Dance and featuring animated masked and winged figures in fairy-like evocations.Aubusson tapestry woven in the Andraud workshop. Circa 1960. -
La nuit (the night)
In 1964 Claire Rado designed and wove in her workshop in Suresnes, her very first tapestry which she then exhibited at the Galerie La Demeure. She weaves her own cartoons, but, rather like Daquin or Coffinet for example, also produces the work of others (Soulages notably as far as Rado is concerned). Her first abstract works were followed by monumental woven figures around which she left the warp bare. A tapestry dating from the artist’s early work, where the subject is chosen and dealt with to contribute to her technical skills.Tapestry woven by Claire Rado's workshop. With signed label. Circa 1965. -
Concert champêtre (Outdoor concert)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Picaud workshop for the Verriere Gallery of Lyons. Complete with its certificate signed by the artist ; n° 1 of 4. Circa 1970 « It is thus easy to understand that, having based my painting on my love of tapestry, it was relatively easy for me, and particularly tempting, to produce tapestries which were faithful to my painting” writes the artist in the exhibition catalogue for the 1970 show at the Galerie Verrière. It is not until 1961 that he started making designs (over 50) both for woven tapestries (at Aubusson, but also for the Mobilier National with, on occasion, the collaboration of Pierre Baudoin), but also those employing needlepoint. The artist’s very audacious palette is immediately recognisable in these cartons, with their use of primary colours or, as here, revolving around a very vivid pink with a rather dislocated storyline between the concert in the foreground and the hunting scene in the distance. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue, Expo Lapicque, Lyons, Galerie Verrière 1970 -
Concert champêtre (Outdoor concert)
Needle-work tapestry. Circa 1965. « It is thus easy to understand that, having based my painting on my love of tapestry, it was relatively easy for me, and particularly tempting, to produce tapestries which were faithful to my painting” writes the artist in the exhibition catalogue for the 1970 show at the Galerie Verrière. It is not until 1961 that he started making designs (over 50) both for woven tapestries (at Aubusson, but also for the Mobilier National with, on occasion, the collaboration of Pierre Baudoin), but also those employing needlepoint. The artist’s very audacious palette is immediately recognisable in these cartons, with their use of primary colours or, as here, revolving around a very vivid pink with a rather dislocated storyline between the concert in the foreground and the hunting scene in the distance. Provenance : Elmina Auger collection Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue, Lapicque tapisseries, Paris, galerie Villand & Galanis, 1964-1965 Exhibition catalogue, Lapicque, Lyons, Galerie Verrière 1970 -
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. -
Les nymphéas (the waterlilies)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop for the Verrière gallery. With label, n°4/6. 1968.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. Hilaire makes the subject, previously referenced by Monet, his own in his habitual, cubist (and tending towards the abstract) style, characterised by lines and circular shapes in an exalted blue and green colour scheme. His early passion for horticulture, which was originally to be his profession, here echoes that of Monet in Giverny. 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. -
Treilles (trellis)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop for Leleu. With label. 1964.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. This tapestry hung in the dining-room of the villa Médy Roc, at the Cap d’Antibes, for which the Leleu studio designed furnishings and fittings starting in 1957 : their philosophy, inspired by Jacques Adnet’s theories of the interweaving of architecture, furniture and tapestry design , which should all be unified by a single view, was to lean into the idea of a tradition of good taste “à la française”, as interpreted by the best designers and artists of the period. With this in mind, another work, also by Hilaire, “Jardin à la française” was already in place in the dining-room before this tapestry, where a traditional trellis shelters birds of more exotic plumage, was installed in the same area in 1964. Both works appear in the film “Les seins de glace”, directed by Lautner featuring Delon, Brasseur and Mireille Darc, which was filmed on location in the villa. Provenance : villa Médy Roc, Cap d’Antibes Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Hilaire, œuvre tissé, galerie Verrière, 1970 Exhibition catalogue, du trait à la lumière, Musée Départemental Georges de la Tour at Vic-sur-Seille, 2010. -
Sérénade
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop. Circa 1950. 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. This tapestry is probably one of Hilaire’s first cartoons for the medium, at a period in his work when the human figure was still omnipresent (before disappearing completely around 1960), and he was being regularly commissioned for works in public spaces : this bucolic « Serenade » can be seen to refer to « Quatuor » a cartoon dating from 1950 and woven by Pinton for the Mobilier National. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Hilaire, œuvre tissé, galerie Verrière, 1970 Exhibition catalogue, du trait à la lumière, Musée Départemental Georges de la Tour at Vic-sur-Seille, 2010. -
L’oiseau de feu (the firebird)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop. With signed label. 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. “L’oiseau de feu » is a rare example of the dynamic in works by Hilaire who has accustomed us to more static subjects like hothouses and forest scenes : his rather fragmentary and kaleidoscopic style is however admirably suited to conveying the idea of movement. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Hilaire, œuvre tissé, galerie Verrière, 1970, ill. Exhibition catalogue, du trait à la lumière, Musée Départemental Georges de la Tour, Vic-sur-Seille, 2010. -
Les grands pins (the tall pines)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop for the Verrière gallery. With label, n°1/1. Circa 1965. 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 ( over a score) some of which were woven at Beauvais or at Les Gobelins. In this piece we come upon one of the artist’s leitmotivs in his tapestry cartoons : tracing light rays as they fall through foliage in a forest, found for example in “Soleil dans les arbres” (Sun in the trees), (but it was already the subject of “Forêt de france” for the “France” ocean liner). Here the concentrated colour scheme gives an effect of stained glass which is particularly striking, and which is redolent of the artist’s many realisations in this medium, notably in the churches of Moselle. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue, Hilaire œuvre tissé, galerie Verrière 1970 Exhibition catalogue, Hilaire, du trait à la lumière, Musée Départemental Georges de la Tour à Vic-sur-Seille, 2010. -
La cage aux oiseaux (the bird cage)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop. With label, n°1/6. Circa 1980. Although in his youth Lorjou was a silk fabric designer and an artist specialising in large formats used as posters for exhibitions (“la peste en Beauce” “the plague in the Beauce” 1953, measuring 250 x 360cm for example), he only turned his hand to tapestry design relatively late on : maybe he felt that his rather rough and ready style was somehow inappropriate to being woven (it is noteworthy that other artists to whom he was close, Rebeyrolle, Mottet, Sébire, ... never had their work realised as tapestries). In the 1970’s his style moved away from expressionism to something more dreamlike and it is at this point that he gave a few designs to the Pinton workshop. The colours employed, the bird motifs are all characteristic of Lorjou’s work in the 1970’s. The effects created by the thickness of the paint used are rendered in the tapestry by the use of different stitches. -
Composition
Although he was one of the first Lebanese abstract artists, Assem Stétié (the brother of the better-known poet and critic Saleh Stétié, who was himself close to many artists) is unfortunately a somewhat forgotten painter today. His personal work is both lyrical and masterful, made up of signs in pure colours, a form of personal calligraphy, particularly in the 1970s, from which we can date our tapestry.Aubusson tapestry woven by the Caron workshop. Circa 1970. -
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...) -
Composition
Tapestry, probably Aubusson woven. Circa 1970 If Lanskoy’s work starts to evolve towards the abstract from the beginning of the 1940’s, his first cartoons date from the 1950’s : thus they are all abstract. Originally working with Picaud’s workshop at Aubusson, he would go on to collaborate with Maurice Chassagne (on whose productions there never appears any indication of the workshop nor certificate of authenticity), but his work was also woven by the Manufactures Nationales, and “Consolation” would be hung in the ocean liner “France”, undeniable proof of official recognition for this artist. A major protagonist of lyrical abstraction whose work was championed by the major art galleries of the period (Jeanne Bucher, Louis Carré), Lanskoy whose luxuriant painting style employed a festival of colours (pinks, mauves and oranges are frequent) avoided his characterestic layering of paint when he produced work for weaving. In the same more contained more vein, the forms employed tend to be less exuberant. -
Fleur de roc (rock flower)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. n°2/4. Circa 1970. 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, abstract motifs which play on the plastic effect of light passing through the colours : a classic cartoon from André Borderie. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue André Borderie « pour l’homme simplement », Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine 1998. J.J. et B. Wattel, André Borderie et la tapisserie d'Aubusson, Editions Louvre Victoire, 2018, ill. p.22 -
Eaux vives (Wild water)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. Complete with signed label, n°1/6. Circa 1970.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. Despite its warm colours and lyrical shapes (notably the sinuous vertical swirl, ressembling water currents), “Eaux vives” remains a one-off in Borderie’s work : the habitual muted colour scheme is broken here by the striking central red oval. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue André Borderie « pour l’homme simplement », Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine 1998 J.J. et B. Wattel, André Borderie et la tapisserie d'Aubusson, Editions Louvre Victoire, 2018 -
Vent de sable (sandstorm)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. With signed label, n°EA/2. Circa 1970.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, abstract motifs which play on the plastic effect of light passing through the colours : a classic cartoon from André Borderie. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue André Borderie « pour l’homme simplement », Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine 1998 J.J. et B. Wattel, André Borderie et la tapisserie d'Aubusson, Editions Louvre Victoire, 2018 -
D'or et d'ombre (of gold and shade)
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. Here we find the same preoccupations with light (and shadow) as in ‘les armes de la lumière’ (and as in Matégot's work). Borderie was also woven by workshops other than Legoueix in Aubusson, Rado, Daquin and, more confidentially, Chartron in Angers (who wove Jorj Morin in particular). 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, 2018Tapestry woven in the Cartron workshop. With signed label, n°1/1. Circa 1970. -
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. -
Tapis de sol (Floor carpet)
Manessier was trained in the Bissière studio where he became familiar with decorative art (the sets for the 1937 Exhibition), and with applied arts particularly in the context of religious art (cartoons for stained glass, the design of liturgical ornamentation,...), and designed his first tapestry cartoon in 1947. Somewhat disappointed with the results, too well-defined and arid for his taste, he turned in the 1950’s to the Plasse le Caisne workshop. Exploiting a different technique which allowed for the contrast of stitches, materials, the use of relief, ... and a greater freedom for the weaver who thus engaged in a close collaboration with the cartoon designer, Plasse le Caisne went on to weave most of Manessier’s tapestries, some of them particularly large-scale (“Chant Grégorien” for the Maison de la Radio,...), some of them forming a cycle (the 12 “Cantiques sprituels de Saint Jean de la Croix),... Very much a one-off in Manessier’s work : a rug, but woven using the Aubusson weaving technique in the Goubely workshop (the only time they worked for the artist) ; it was a commission from Myriam Prévot, co-director of the Galerie de France, which was very active in the promotion of most of the non-figurative and lyrical abstract painters (organising 7 separate exhibitions devoted to Manessier), for her flat on the quai d’Anjou : underlying the close relationship between the artist and the gallery owner who represented him. Bibliography : Exhibition Catalogue Manessier, oeuvre tissé, Eglise du château de Felletin, 1993 (ill. p.39)Aubusson carpet/tapestry woven by the Goubely workshop. 1959. -
Maternité (Motherhood)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Four workshop. With signed label, n°5/6. Circa 2000. The Manufacture Four has called on a number of living artists (including Toffoli and Lartigaud) to weave them, adding a new dimension to Raya-Sorkine's pictorial production, with its strong lyrical expressiveness and vibrant colours. Bibliography : R. Guinot, la tapisserie d’Aubusson et de Felletin, Lucien Souny, 2009, ill. p.161 -
Oliviers avec ciel jaune et soleil (Olive trees with yellow sky and sun)
The Four workshop produced a certain number of hand-woven tapestries which depicted works of the great masters : thus Klee, Modigliani, Macke or, as here, Van Gogh are faithfully reproduced in wool that reflects the shading and brushstrokes of the artist’s original.Aubusson tapestry woven by the Four workshop. With label, n°6/6. After a painting by the artist, produced in 1889, in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. -
L'oiseau bleu (the blue bird)
Aubusson tapestry woven by "le mur du nomade" workshop. With label, n°EA.
