Robert WOGENSKY

Member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie), Wogensky was one of the many artists who devoted themselves to tapestry following Lurçat, in the immediate post-war period. First influenced by him, Wogensky’s work (159 Cartons after the 1989 exhibition catalogue) then developed during the 1960s toward a lyrical abstraction, not always fully embraced: from cosmic-astronomical themes to decomposed, moving bird forms, moving toward Cartons that were more refined and less dense. Although he had always proclaimed himself a painter, the artist’s reflection on tapestry was highly accomplished: « To make a wall Cartoon… is to think in terms of a space that no longer belongs to us—through its dimensions, its scale; it is also the requirement of a broad gesture that transforms and heightens our presence ». The theme of birds appeared in Wogensky’s work in the late 1960s. To be sure, the depictions often remained highly allusive—closer to chronophotographed trajectories than to ornithological treatises: it is movement in space that matters, hence the titles « vol … ». At that time, Wogensky continued to pursue effects of texture achieved by the lissiers through the use of different point thicknesses; « grand vol bleu », the culminating point of this thematic set and this formal direction, was presented in majesty in the exhibition catalogue at the Galerie La Demeure in 1973. Bibliography : Cat. Expo. Robert Wogensky, 20 tapisseries récentes, galerie La Demeure, 1973, ill. n°1 (et détail en couverture et au dos) Cat. Expo. Robert Wogensky, l’oeuvre tissé, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1989, ill. en couverture Cat. Expo. Robert Wogensky, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1989, ill. p.1 Gérard Denizeau, Denise Majorel, une vie pour la tapisserie, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1989, ill. p.70