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Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. With signed label, n°1/6. Circa 1980.It was in 1953 that Jean Picart le Doux proposed to Chaye to become his assistant and encouraged him to design tapestry cartoons : he would produce numerous bucolic cartoons, but also views of Normandy (Mont Saint Michel, Honfleur, regattas,…) whence he came. A design which brings together two leitmotivs characteristic of Simon Chaye, a bouquet and a flock of birds, which here detach themselves from a background formed by the red sun.
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les oiseaux (birds)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. n°4/6. Circa 1970. It was in 1953 that Jean Picart le Doux proposed to Chaye to become his assistant and encouraged him to design tapestry cartoons : he would produce numerous bucolic cartoons, but also views of Normandy (Mont Saint Michel, Honfleur, regattas,...) whence he came. Here birds and trelliswork cohabit in a style very reminiscent of Picart le Doux. -
L'étang (the pond)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop. With signed label, n°6/6. Circa 1970.It was in 1953 that Jean Picart le Doux proposed to Chaye to become his assistant and encouraged him to design tapestry cartoons : he would produce numerous bucolic cartoons, but also views of Normandy (Mont Saint Michel, Honfleur, regattas,…) whence he came. An exact reproduction of the cartoon “Nénuphars” (waterlilies), the only difference being the change of the background colour from the original green. -
Composition au chou (composition with cabbage)
Tapestry woven By Lilette Keller. Circa 1963. -
La femme fleur (flower lady)
At the beginning of the 1980’s , Bezombes returned to tapestry with “Bally” (see Audap-Mirabaud auction 19.11.12, lot n° 8) and this cartoon (see also what is doubtless the original drawing in the Pillon auction 4.12.2005 n° 245), both are particularly dreamlike and strongly influenced by graphic art and illustration techniques. “La femme fleur” (flower lady) is reproduced in the « Tapisserie d’Aubusson” file edited by the Guéret Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the beginning of the 1980’s to illustrate the technical mastery of the weavers of Aubusson.Aubusson tapestry woven in the Four workshop. N°EA/1. Circa 1980.Roger Bezombes was a proponent of monumental art from the beginning. He received numerous commissions for tapestries on behalf of the state which were woven first at the Gobelins and then at Aubusson, particularly with the Hamot workshop whose dyers were able to produce for him wools to match exactly the colours used for his cartons (which he painted himself to scale). In 1952-53, he produced a monumental set (300 m2) for the pavilion of the French colonies at the Cité Universitaire de Paris. He abandoned the weaving technique at the end of the 1950’s in favour of hangings made of assembled fabrics. -
Poisson cardinal (cardinal fish)
Tapestry woven in the Saint-Cyr workshop. With signed label, n°EA2. 1978.Roger Bezombes was a proponent of monumental art from the beginning. He received numerous commissions for tapestries on behalf of the state which were woven first at the Gobelins and then at Aubusson, particularly with the Hamot workshop whose dyers were able to produce for him wools to match exactly the colours used for his cartons (which he painted himself to scale). In 1952-53, he produced a monumental set (300 m2) for the pavilion of the French colonies at the Cité Universitaire de Paris. He abandoned the weaving technique at the end of the 1950’s in favour of hangings made of assembled fabrics. These murals (one of the first of which « la Musique », 25m long, was commissioned for France’s broadcasting headquarters La Maison de la Radio) are patchworks made from assembled fragments of cloth, and sometimes other materials, sewn, stuck or stapled together. However, as here, some of his murals were reproduced in tapestry form by the Saint Cyr workshop belonging to Pierre Daquin. In these cases the theme of the fish is omnipresent ; Bezombes however is no ichthyologist, rather a poet : it is the colour, cardinal red, which concerns him here and not the fish of the same name. -
Serpent d'étoiles (serpent of stars)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Tabard workshop. With signed label. 1961.A member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie), Wogensky is one of the many artists who would follow in Lurçat’s footsteps immediately after the war. At first influenced by his predecessor, Wogensky’s subsequent work (159 cartoons according to the 1989 exhibition catalogue) would evolve during the 1960’s towards a, not completely self-avowed, lyrical abstraction, from cosmic-astronomical themes expressed in decomposed, moving, birdlike shapes to cartoons both more refined and less dense. Although always claiming to be a painter, the artist’s conception of tapestry is extremely well thought out : “the realisation of a mural cartoon…. requires the consideration of a space which is no longer ours alone, by the nature of its dimensions, its scale, it also imposes a grand gesture which transforms and accentuates our presence.” « Serpent d’étoiles » (Serpent of stars) references the constellation Serpens (but also inevitably Giono’s novel of the same name), at a time (the 1960’s) when his out and out lyricism led him to the evocation of celestial bodies, space, the galaxies ; from “Cassiopée” in 1961, “Chant des étoiles” in 1962 (which figured at the Biennale de Lausanne), to “Galaxie” (1970) now in the collection of the French Senate. A similar tapestry figures in the the collection of the Conseil Régional du Limousin. Bibliography : Exhibition Catalogue Robert Wogensky, tapisseries, Galerie la Demeure, 1962, ill. Exhibition catalogue Robert Wogensky, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1989 Exhibition catalogue Robert Wogensky, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1989-1990, ill. p.20 Exhibition Catalogue Dialogues avec Lurçat, Musées de Basse-Normandie, 1992, ill. p.73 Gérard Denizeau, Denise Majorel, une vie pour la tapisserie, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, ill. p.67 -
Les hyades
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Legoueix workshop. With signed label, n°5/6. 1968.A member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie), Wogensky is one of the many artists who would follow in Lurçat’s footsteps immediately after the war. At first influenced by his predecessor, Wogensky’s subsequent work (159 cartoons according to the 1989 exhibition catalogue) would evolve during the 1960’s towards a, not completely self-avowed, lyrical abstraction, from cosmic-astronomical themes expressed in decomposed, moving, birdlike shapes to cartoons both more refined and less dense. Although always claiming to be a painter, the artist’s conception of tapestry is extremely well thought out : “the realisation of a mural cartoon…. requires the consideration of a space which is no longer ours alone, by the nature of its dimensions, its scale, it also imposes a grand gesture which transforms and accentuates our presence.” « Les Hyades » is a work inspired by Wogensky’s « cosmic » vein (it’s title alone bears witness to the fact) which lasted through the 1960’s and of which “Cosmos” (1968 Strasbourg University) and “Galaxy” (1970, Sénat Palais du Luxembourg) would be the high points. Shading (omnipresent) and blocks of colour co-exist in a subtle harmony, evoking a curious, unknown world with elements of the infinitely small as seen through a microscope and the infinitely large. Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Robert Wogensky, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1989 Exhibition catalogue Robert Wogensky, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1989-1990 -
Plein vol (Full flight)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Legoueix workshop. With label, n°2/6. 1982.A member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie), Wogensky is one of the many artists who would follow in Lurçat’s footsteps immediately after the war. At first influenced by his predecessor, Wogensky’s subsequent work (159 cartoons according to the 1989 exhibition catalogue) would evolve during the 1960’s towards a, not completely self-avowed, lyrical abstraction, from cosmic-astronomical themes expressed in decomposed, moving, birdlike shapes to cartoons both more refined and less dense. Although always claiming to be a painter, the artist’s conception of tapestry is extremely well thought out : “the realisation of a mural cartoon…. requires the consideration of a space which is no longer ours alone, by the nature of its dimensions, its scale, it also imposes a grand gesture which transforms and accentuates our presence.” The omnipresent theme of the bird in Wogensky’s work is, more often than not, treated in an abstract way which emphasises its kinetic qualities : lines, trajectories, force, energy,... are the words used by critics and commentators in their descriptions. However, and notably in “Plein vol” (and also in “Plein ciel”, a reversed smaller version), at the beginning of the 1980’s, the artist reverts to a more figurative treatment where wings, beaks and tails are once again discreetly discernible. Bibliography : Exhibition Catalogue Tapisseries d’Aubusson, Galerie d’art municipale, Luxembourg, 1982, ill. n°35 Collectif, Tapisserie d’Aubusson, Association du développement du pays d’Aubusson, 1983, ill. p.48 Exhibition catalogue Robert Wogensky, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1989 Exhibition catalogue Robert Wogensky, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1989-1990, ill. p.40
