Pilot Bird
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Legoueix workshop.
With its selvedge signed by the artist, no. 1/6.
1969.
A member of the APCT (Association of Tapestry Cartoon Painters), Wogensky is one of the many artists who devoted themselves to tapestry following in Lurçat's footsteps in the immediate post-war period. Initially influenced by Lurçat, Wogensky's work (159 cartoons according to the 1989 exhibition catalog) evolved in the 1960s towards a lyrical abstraction, not always fully embraced, moving from cosmic-astronomical themes to decomposed and dynamic bird forms, towards more refined and less dense cartoons. While he always proclaimed himself a painter, the artist's reflection on tapestry is highly developed: “Creating a wall cartoon… means thinking in terms of a space that no longer belongs to us, by its dimensions, its scale; it also requires a broad gesture that transforms and accentuates our presence.”.
“Pilot Bird,” in the singular, like the “chronologically timed” trajectory in a red azure (cf. “Birds of Noon,” or “Flight,” from the same year) of a form (even a force!) that guides and orients: to be continued…
Bibliography:
Exhibition catalog, Robert Wogensky, The Woven Work, Aubusson, Departmental Museum of Tapestry, 1989;
Exhibition catalog, Robert Wogensky, Angers, Jean Lurçat Museum and Contemporary Tapestry, 1989;
Exhibition catalog, Workshop Weavings - Artists' Weavings, Angers, Jean Lurçat Museum and Contemporary Tapestry, 2004
