Nymphs and Hunters
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop for the Compagnie des Arts Français.
1941.
André Planson's place in the history of tapestry is linked to the role that Jacques Adnet wanted to give him within the framework of the synthesis of the arts promoted within the Compagnie des Arts Français, of which he was director. From 1941, Adnet solicited several painters (Brianchon, Vera,…. and Planson) to create tapestry cartoons, in connection with furniture and interior architecture: “we wanted to demonstrate that contemporary tapestry finds its place in a whole and can effectively help to create the atmosphere of a room” (L. Chéronnet, Jacques Adnet, Art et Industrie, 1948). The Compagnie des Arts Français organized tapestry exhibitions in its premises throughout the 1940s. These decorative aspirations, important for the renewal of Tapestry, remain however far removed from the concerns of Lurçat and his followers.
The amiable and joyful style (as one thinks of the contemporary achievements of Lurçat or Gromaire) of the Company appears fully in this 1941 cartoon, which updates the traditional themes of tapestry, halfway between hunting scene and rustic pleasures, in a desire to renew the great decorative taste. While some technical innovations of the Lurçat school are already assimilated (counted tones, large stitch,…), it is noted that this decorative will is still influenced by pictorial technique (use of perspective, shading in the flesh,…)
