Grand vol bleu (great blue flight)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Legoueix workshop.
N°EA1.
1973.
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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.” Birds emerge as a theme in Wogensky’s work at the end of the 1960’s. In reality, if the titles of his works refer to them, their representation remains allusive, closer to images of flight frozen in time than to ornithological treatises : it is movement in space that is important, hence the titles ‘vol ...’[flight]. it is the movement in space that is important, hence the titles ‘flight ...’. At this time, Wogensky was interested in the material effects obtained by weavers through the use of different stitch sizes; The ‘grand vol bleu’, the high point of this thematic and formal orientation, is presented in majesty in the catalogue of the 1973 exhibition at La Demeure gallery. Bibliography : Cat. Expo. Robert Wogensky, 20 tapisseries récentes, galerie La Demeure, 1973, ill. n°1 (and a detail on front and back cover) Exhibition catalogue Robert Wogensky, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1989, illustrated on front cover Exhibition catalogue Robert Wogensky, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1989, ill. p.31 Gérard Denizeau, Denise Majorel, une vie pour la tapisserie, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1989, ill. p.70
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Sabulum
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. The specific techniques of his tapestry designs (as opposed to painting) : innovative use of shape and texture, themes taken from the natural world etc. took shape in the 1970s; he was then close to Pierre Daquin, who wove a number of his tapestries. Although he is known for his marine subjects, Brachet's inspiration also turns to the mineral world (Sabulum = sand in Latin), which gives a more figurative flavour to our cartoon, with a challenge : how to translate sand into wool? Bibliography : Exhibition catalogue Jacques Brachet, mémoires océanes, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1996Tapestry woven in the Saint-Cyr workshop. With signed label, n°EA. 1973. -
Le violon printanier (the spring violin)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop. With signed label, n°2/6. 1956. -
La pluie (rain)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop, for the Compagnie des Arts Français. 1946. -
Les 2 compagnons (the 2 partners)
Lurçat’s artistic production was immense : it is however his role as the renovator of the art of tapestry design which ensures his lasting renown. As early as 1917, he started producing works on canvas, then in the 20’s and 30’s, he worked with Marie Cuttoli. His first collaboration with the Gobelins workshop dates back to 1937, at the same time he discovered the tapestry of the Apocalypse which was essential in his decision to devote himself to tapestry design. He first tackled the technical aspects with François Tabard, then on his installation at Aubusson during the war, he established his technique : broad point, a simplified palette, outlined cartoons with colours indicated by pre-ordained numbers. A huge production then follows (over 1000 cartoons) amplified by his desire to include his painter friends, the creation of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie) and the collaboration with the art gallery La Demeure and Denise Majorel, and then by his role as a tireless advocate for the medium around the world. His tapestries reveal a pictorial world which is specifically decorative, with a very personal symbolic iconography : cosmogony (the sun, the planets, the zodiac, the four elements…) stylised vegetation, fauna (rams, cocks, butterflies, chimera …) standing out against a background without perspective (voluntarily different from painting) and, in his more ambitious work, designed as an invitation to share in a poetic (he sometimes weaves quotations into his tapestries) and philosophical (the grand themes are broached from the wartime period onwards) vision whose climax is the “Chant du Monde” (Song of the World) (Jean Lurçat Museum , ancien hôpital Saint Jean, Angers) which remained unfinished at his death. Our cartoon is a reversal of the ‘Man’ cartoon (a copy of which is kept at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris), with a few changes. The point is the same: integrated with Nature, in the foliage, surrounded by animals (an owl snuggled up to his breast, the blue dog-companion...), Man is the pivot around which all Creation revolves. Bibliography : Tapisseries de Jean Lurçat 1939-1957, Pierre Vorms Editeur, 1957 Exhibition Catalogue Lurçat, 10 ans après, Musée d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1976 Exhibition catalogue Les domaines de Jean Lurçat, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1986 Symposium Jean Lurçat et la renaissance de la tapisserie in Aubusson, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie 1992 Exhibition Catalogue Dialogues avec Lurçat, Musées de Basse-Normandie, 1992 Exhibition catalogue Jean Lurçat, Donation Simone Lurçat, Académie des Beaux-Arts, 2004 Jean Lurçat, le chant du monde Angers 2007 Gérard Denizeau, Jean Lurçat, Liénart, 2013 Exhibition Catalogue Jean Lurçat au seul bruit du soleil, Paris, galerie des Gobelins, 2016Aubusson tapestry woven by the Tabard workshop. With label. Circa 1945. -
Linarès
Matégot, originally a decorator, then creator of artefacts and furniture (an activity he abandoned in 1959) met François Tabard in 1945 and gave him his first cartoons, first of all figurative then rapidly of abstract design in the 1950’s. He became a member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres Cartonniers de Tapisserie) in 1949, participated in many international exhibitions (Matégot, like Lurçat before him, was an untiring advocate of the art of tapestry) fulfilled numerous public commissions, sometimes of monumental proportions (“Rouen” 85m2 for the Préfecture of the Seine Maritime département, and also tapestries for Orly Airport, for the Maison de la Radio, for the IMF...) and designed no fewer than 629 cartoons up until the 1970’s. In 1990 the Matégot foundation for contemporary tapestry was inaugurated in Bethesda, U.S.A. Matégot is an artist, like Wogensky, Tourlière or Prassinos, who turns wool textiles resolutely towards the abstract: at first lyrical, geometric in the 70’s, exploiting various technical aspects of the loom : colour graduations, shading, irregularities... Our carton is part of a large body of tapestries with exotic overtones: ‘Acapulco’, ‘Mindanao’, ‘Santa Cruz’... but with an abstract treatment. At this time, his tapestries were resolutely compartmentalized (but not geometric) before the more lyrical phase of the 1960s. Bibliography : J. Cassou, M. Damain, R. Moutard-Uldry, la tapisserie française et les peintres cartonniers, Tel, 1957, ill. p.141 Waldemar Georges, Mathieu Matégot, Prisme des Arts special issue, 1957, ill. Exhibition catalogue, Matégot, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1990-1991, ill. p.33 Patrick Favardin, Mathieu Matégot, Editions Norma, 2014, ill. p.96 in the 1954 Salon des Artistes décorateursAubusson tapestry woven by the Tabard workshop. With label. 1954. -
Moulin (mill)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Glaudin-Brivet workshop. With label, n°3/6. 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. ‘Source’, “Fraîcheur” and “Nénuphars” are cartoons that testify to the artist's interest in the aquatic element. This closeness to Nature is tempered here by the mechanical use made of it by Man. -
Kenya
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop. With signed label. Circa 1960.
