Suburb
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Goubely workshop.
With its signed selvedge.
1945.
A passionate enthusiast of mural art since 1937 (he participated in the International Exposition), Lagrange designed his first cartoons in 1945 and became one of the founding members of the APCT (Association for the Promotion of Tapestry). Initially expressionist (like Matégot or Tourlière), his cartoons (starting with his collaboration with Pierre Baudouin) evolved towards a stylization that culminated in the 1970s in cartoons composed of refined symbols in pure tones. Beyond his role in the revival of tapestry (and the associated public commissions), Lagrange was a professor at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, a regular collaborator of Jacques Tati, a designer of monumental sets, and a recognized painter, close to Estève and Lapicque.
“Suburbs,” my first tapestry woven in Aubusson, depicts the spectacle of mattress carders sending wool flying through the streets with a curious machine,” explains the artist. In his early work, Lagrange explored, in a realistic, even expressionistic style, the themes of the suburbs, trades (an amusing mise en abyme on wool work), and daily life (see Guignebert’s “The Flea Market,” a contemporary work), in a vein diametrically opposed to Lurçat’s cosmogony. The tapestry was featured in the 1946 exhibition, and two copies are held in public collections, at the Musée de la Chaux-de-Fonds and the Musée du Pays d’Ussel.
Bibliography:
Collective, Muraille et laine, Editions Pierre Tisné, 1946, ill. n°58
Madeleine Jarry, La tapisserie, art du XXe siècle, Office du livre, 1974, ill. n°69
Cat. Exp. Lagrange, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1987, reproduced p.16-17
Cat. Exp. Jean Lurçat, fellow travelers and significant figures, Felletin, Château Church, 1992, reproduced p. 29;
Robert Guinot, Jacques Lagrange, the colors of life, Lucien Souny publisher, 2005, no. 28, reproduced;
Gérard Denizeau, Denise Majorel, a life for tapestry, Aubusson, Departmental Tapestry Museum, reproduced p. 73;
JJ and B. Wattel, Jacques Lagrange and his canvases: paintings, tapestries, cinema, Editions Louvre Victoire, 2020, reproduced p. 33, 70-71
