The alarm clock
Tapestry woven by the Baudonnet workshop.
With its ribbon signed by the artist.
1959.
Lurçat approached Saint-Saëns, initially a fresco painter, in 1940. And during the war, Saint-Saëns produced his first allegorical masterpieces, tapestries expressing indignation, combat, and resistance: "Les Vierges folles" (The Mad Virgins) and "Thésée et le Minotaure" (Theseus and the Minotaur). At the end of the war, he naturally joined Lurçat, whose convictions he shared (on numbered cartoons and measured tones, on the specific style required for tapestry, etc.) within the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-cartonniers de Tapisserie). His universe, in which the human figure, stretched and elongated, occupies a considerable place (compared in particular to the place it occupies in the work of his colleagues Lurçat and Picart le Doux), revolves around traditional themes: women, the Commedia dell'arte, Greek myths, etc., sublimated by the brilliance of the colors and the simplification of the layout. In the 1960s, he moved towards more lyrical, almost abstract designs, dominated by cosmic elements and forces.
"Saint-Saëns, who produced a series of birds in 1949, rarely depicted the rooster, Lurçat's favorite animal. Here, the rooster is devoid of any symbolism and heralds the dawn of a new day with a tumult of cries and colors." (Cat. Expo. Saint-Saëns, woven work, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la Tapisserie, 1987 p.48)
Bibliography:
Cat. Expo. Saint-Saëns, La Demeure gallery, 1970
Cat. Expo. Saint-Saëns, woven work, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la Tapisserie, 1987, ill. p.49
Cat. Expo. Marc Saint-Saëns, tapestries, 1935-1979, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1997-1998