Le clown (the clown)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Hecquet workshop.
With signed label, n°1/1.
1974.
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Mexicaine aux arums (mexican with arum lilies)
Toffoli produced a large number of tapestries in collaboration with the Robert Four workshop from 1976 onwards, designing several hundred cartoons. In them we find post-cubist transparent effects which are characteristic of the artist, as indeed are the subjects treated. Thus Toffoli’s tapestries do not differ from his painting : travelling for inspiration, here he illustrates scenes observed during his travels in South America.Aubusson tapestry woven by the Four workshop. With label, n°1/6. Circa 1990. -
Composition
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Henry workshop. With signed label, n°1/1. 1984.Like other sculptors (Gilioli, Adam, Ubac...), Hairabédian turned to tapestry (his studio was located in Creuse from 1975 to 1985). In the absence of volume, his spectacular composition plays on the size of weaving stitches, the hollowing out of space with the blank warp... processes typical of the ‘New Tapestry’. -
Soleil d'août (august sun)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Braquenié workshop. With signed label. 1958. 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 harvest first appeared in 1944 (“Harvest”, a copy of which is kept at the Cité de la Tapisserie in Aubusson), along with allegories of the seasons. The figure with the scythe is taken from ‘Winter’ in 1950, one of his most famous tapestries. Here, the composition has become monumental. 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°85 Exhibition Catalogue, Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Musée de Saint-Denis, 1976 Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Musée de la Poste, 1980 -
Lente approche (slow approach)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Braquenié workshop. With label. Circa 1960. -
Les épées d'or (the golden swords)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Braquenié workshop. With label. 1955.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. Before his explorations of the 70s, Brachet produced 6 cartoons in the 50s, which met with modest success (they are all unique pieces). While the martial theme, linked to the practice of fencing, is unprecedented, the aesthetic is close to that of other peintres-cartonniers of the period, such as Jullien. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Jacques Brachet, mémoires océanes, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1996 -
Le soleil d'Apremont (the sun of Apremont)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Picaud workshop. With signed label, n°1/4. Circa 1965.Maurice André settled in Aubusson for the duration of the second world war. A founding member of the group “Tapisserie de France” and a member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie), he developed a personal style, different from that of Lurçat, characterised by rigorous, cubist-influenced flat areas of colour, often using a limited palette ; he received large-scale public commissions for the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (“L’Europe unie dans le Travail et la Paix”) or for the French pavilion at the Brussels Exhibition in 1958 (“La Technique moderne au service de l’Homme”). Gradually (as with Wogensky and Prassinos,...) his style evolved towards more abstraction, firstly lyrical and then more and more geometric, in a way very similar to Matégot. In the mid 1960’s André’s style becomes comparable to that of Matégot, made of lyrical ensembles of triangular shapes, in a homogenous colour scheme and sprinkled with stripes, stains, marks... often black, where different techniques specific to the weaver’s art are used to accentuate the impression of volume and depth. -
Le verger (the orchard)
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. This cartoon, shown at the biennale in Lausanne, is a development of the contemporary theme of enclosure (20 works exhibited in 1966), which is itself an echo of the mediaeval « hortus conclusus ». Bibliography : Cat. Expo. 2e biennale internationale de la tapisserie, Lausanne, Musée cantonal des beaux-arts, 1965, ill. p.19 Paul Caso, Mary Dambiermont, Editions Arts et voyages, 1975, ill p.42-43Tapestry woven by the Braquenié workshop. With label. 1965. -
Bouquet d'anniversaire (Birthday bouquet)
Van Vlasselaer (1907-1982) is known for having created numerous monumental wall paintings as well as stain glass windows. From 1950 onwards he created tapestry cartoons inspired by scenes of everyday life, traditional Flemish folklore and natural subjects in keeping with the aesthetic of the group “Forces Murales”. He evolved from the figurative of his early work towards dense designs incorporating sharp-edged foliage laid out against geometrically inspired backgrounds influenced by Cubism. “From 1969 onwards, his style became ever more flamboyant. One of the most remarkable examples is without doubt “Bouquet d’anniversaire”... on a monumental scale... Each detail is strikingly original. The foliage and the blossoms are rendered in such a way to take them beyond their natural condition in a fantastical style that still retains a certain rigour...” (R. Avermaete, van Vlasselaer Tapisseries, p.97) Bibliography : R. Avermaete, van Vlasselaer Tapisseries, Editions Arcade, 1973, ill. p.88Tapestry woven by the Braquenié workshop. 1969. -
Flore des tropiques (tropical flora)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Four workshop. With label, n°EA. Circa 1975.Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Dubrunfaut et la renaissance de la tapisserie, tableaux, dessins, peintures, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons, 1982-1983Edmond 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). Towards the end of his career, Dubrunfaut tended to a language of fantasy (whose sharpened forms are reminiscent of Marc Petit), and whose use of motif (humming birds and exotic vegetation) looks over its shoulder at Lurçat.
