La sylve (the forest)
Tapestry woven by the Braquenié workshop.
With label.
1968.
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Representing the prolific Belgian school of modern tapestry, Mary Dambiermont, is one of its most sensitive protagonists whose work is resolutely figurative. She made her tapestry début at the age of 24 in 1956 and that led her to a close collaboration with the Braquenié establishment in 1958 and from there to two participations in the Biennales de tapisserie in Lausanne in 1962 and 1965. The world she inhabits is a singular place peopled with hieratic figures, often feminine who inhabit dream-like landscapes which are strange and occasionally troubling. Sometimes however, nature is sufficient unto itself, although not often on the scale of this work (12 m2 !), abandoning any attempt at storytelling, as if an echo of bygone times in the history of Tapestry making : “With its twentieth century foliage, it reveals the ancient architecture of an immutable forest.” (Paul Caso, Mary Dambiermont, p.56) Bibliography : Paul Caso, Mary Dambiermont, Editions Arts et voyages, 1975, ill p.54-55
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Composition
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop. With label, n°1/1. 1974. Jean Bazaine, like many of his contemporaries, was a prolific mural artist particularly for large scale edifices. Although he is above all recognised as a designer of stained glass windows and mosaics, he was also making tapestry cartoons as early as the 1930’s. These pieces formed part of the renewal of religious art of which Bazaine would be one of the principal protagonists, particularly after the war. However, Bazaine’s designs are not all destined to be displayed in a religious context. His mastery of mural art is revealed by commissions for mosaics for the UNESCO building and also for the Maison de la Radio as well as tapestries for the Manufactures Nationales or for Aubusson, for the Palais de Justice in Lille or the Hotel de Ville in Strasbourg. This is the context for a commission for this widely recognised, indeed almost official, artist (Grand Prix National des Arts in 1964, an exhibition at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in 1965) from the Federation Française du Bâtiment for its head office, at the beginning of the 1970’s. His response would be this vast, lyrical and rythmic composition in a homogeneous colour scheme. Unfortunately, the illegibility of the certificate of origin leaves us without a title for this work whose creator did not see himself as an abstract artist. Origin : The Head Office of the Federation Francaise du Bâtiment. -
Arès et Aphrodite (Ares and Aphrodite)
« 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. But if Lapicque’s artistic language is established in the 1950’s, the themes which appear in his work evolve with time : thus mythological subjects (recurrent in the history of tapestry making) appear in his work following a journey to Greece in 1964, and « Diane et Actéon », then « Pélops » were the first of his cartoons to be woven in Aubusson predating “Arès et Aphrodite” whose depiction is faithful to the ancient texts (Homer, Ovid) : Hephaestus throwing his net and the Olympian gods laughing at the scene.... Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue, Expo Lapicque, Lyons, Galerie Verrière 1970Aubusson tapestry woven in the Picaud workshop. With signed label, n°1/4. Circa 1970.
