Ornaments
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Tabard workshop.
With its selvedge signed by the artist, no. 4.
1963.
Lurçat approached Saint-Saëns, initially a fresco painter, as early as 1940. During the war, Saint-Saëns produced his first allegorical masterpieces, tapestries of indignation, struggle, and resistance: "The Mad Virgins," "Theseus and the Minotaur." After the war, he naturally joined Lurçat, whose convictions he shared (regarding numbered cartoons and limited tones, the specific style required for tapestry, etc.), within the APCT (Association of Tapestry Cartoon Painters). His world, in which the human figure, elongated and stretched, holds considerable prominence (compared in particular to the role it plays in the work of his contemporaries Lurçat or Picart le Doux), revolves around traditional themes: woman, the Commedia dell'arte, Greek myths, etc., all sublimated by the brilliance of the colors and the simplification of the layout. In the 1960s, he would later move towards more lyrical, almost abstract designs, dominated by cosmic elements and forces.
This cartoon fits perfectly within this style. To quote the 1987 catalog (p. 37): “Ornaments, a purely decorative tapestry, is similar to Daedalus, Biology (held at the CNRS Directorate), and Bel Canto, in its ample, flowing, lyrical style, very close to the brush studies in which Saint-Saëns indulged in the joy of freely applied color.” This cartoon was woven in an edition of 5.
Bibliography:
Exhibition catalog, Contemporary Tapestries (High Warp and Low Warp), 1945-1979, Paris, 19th Arrondissement Town Hall Annex, 1979 (reproduced p. 29)
; Exhibition catalog, Saint-Saëns, Woven Works, Aubusson, Departmental Tapestry Museum, 1987 (tapestry included in the exhibition but not reproduced in the catalog)
; Exhibition catalog, Marc Saint-Saëns, Tapestries, 1935-1979, Angers, Jean Lurçat Museum and Museum of Contemporary Tapestry, 1997-1998 (reproduced p. 22)
; Exhibition catalog, Marc Saint-Saëns, Moulins Gallery, PAD 2010 (reproduced p. 16)
