Vendémiaire
Tapestry woven by Coffinet for Friend of Peace.
Circa 1945.
The story is well-known: following the order of the "4 parts of the World" intended to be woven at the Gobelins, Dubreuil is one of the 3 artists, along with Gromaire and Lurçat, to have been sent by Guiillaume Janneau, administrator of the National Manufactures, to Aubusson at the end of 1939, to renovate the local tapestry production (with the order of a hanging on the theme of Gardens). If he shares Lurçat's conceptions on the influence that medieval tapestry must produce to revitalize the medium, his cartoons, abundant and resolutely naturalistic (without the oneirism of a Coutaud, for example), distance him from his colleague, in favor of a proximity with the work of Maingonnat.
Our tapestry testifies to Dubreuil's collaboration with A.R.T. (tapestry renovation workshop) of Antoine Behna (whose Janneau, discredited for his role during the War, was the technical advisor). The register, allegorical, testifies to Dubreuil's classicism, between academic nudes and still lifes reflecting the History of Painting. This workshop wove both high and low warp: the 1990 sales catalog included a copy woven in each of the techniques.
Bibliography :
G. Janneau, A. Behna, Tapestries of our time, 1950, ill. no. 64
Catalogue Sale Millon-Robert, 3.10.1990, no. 29-29, 64
