Wind Call
Tapestry woven by the Saint-Cyr workshop.
With its signed ribbon, No. III/III.
Circa 1970.
Pierre Daquin is emblematic of the multi-talented artists who revolutionised the art of tapestry in the latter 1960’s. Both artist and technician, he first mastered the techniques working in the Manufactures Nationales, then exploited his knowledge in his Saint-Cyr workshop (that he founded in 1965, after leaving Beauvais) where he wove not only his own designs but also tapestries inspired by Ubac, Feito or Arthur-Bertrand....
Pierre Daquin is particularly recognised as one of the major actors in France of the New Tapestry movement “Nouvelle Tapisserie”, which emerged at the first Biennales de Lausanne, innovating by the rethinking of its form (sometimes 3 dimensional), its function (notably in its relationship with walls and space), its techniques, its texture and raw materials (wool and cotton can become subsidiary materials,...) : his personal preoccupations play around the use of white, emptiness, tri-dimensional work, relief,... and can be found clearly expressed for example in “Mospalis”. (Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine), exhibited at the 4thBiennale de Lausanne, in 1969.
« Appel éolien – wind call” is a cartoon that dates from before the complete and radical departure from what went before : an abstract piece, using large stitch and metallic threads, but which still retains the traditional aspect of a wall tapestry.
Bibliography:
Exhibition Catalogue Decorum, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, 2013
Multi-authored, de la tapisserie au fiber art, les biennales de Lausanne 1962-1995, Skira/fondation Toms Pauli, 2017
