The Hyades
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Legoueix workshop.
With its label signed by the artist, No. 5/6.
1968.
Member of the A.P.C.T. (Association of Painters-Cartonists of Tapestry), Wogensky is one of the many artists who devoted themselves to tapestry following Lurçat, in the immediate post-war period. Initially influenced by him, Wogensky's work (159 cartoons according to the 1989 exhibition catalog) later evolved in the 1960s towards a lyrical abstraction not always fully assumed, from cosmic-astronomical themes to decomposed and moving bird forms, towards more refined and less dense cartoons. Although he always proclaimed himself a painter, the artist's reflection on tapestry is very accomplished: "Creating a mural cartoon... is thinking in terms of a space that no longer belongs to us, by its dimensions, its scale, it is also the requirement of a broad gesture that transforms and accentuates our presence".
“The Hyades” belongs to Wogensky's “cosmic” vein (its very title is evidence of this), which runs throughout the 1960s, and of which “Cosmos” (1968, University of Strasbourg), and “Galaxy” (1970, Senate, Luxembourg Palace) will be the highlights. Brocades (ubiquitous) and flat tints coexist in color harmonies with nuances, in a curious, unknown world, as close to very small cells seen under a microscope as to the infinitely large.
Bibliography :
Cat. Expo. Robert Wogensky, the woven work, Aubusson, Departmental Museum of Tapestry, 1989
Cat. Expo. Robert Wogensky, Angers, Jean Lurçat Museum and Contemporary Tapestry, 1989-1990
