Eaux vives (Wild water)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Legoueix workshop.
Complete with signed label, n°1/6.
Circa 1970.
Originally a sculptor exploiting very diverse materials (steel, concrete, clay…), Borderie came to tapestry with immense enthusiasm in the 1950’s with the weaving of his first cartoon in 1957. Receiving encouragement from Denise Majorel, he was awarded the Grand Prix National de la Tapisserie in 1962. In 1974 he was appointed as director at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs at Aubusson but he resigned from this post shortly thereafter. He designed over 500 painted cartoons, abstracts using simple shapes, shading in a limited palette of colours and weaving with gros points.
Despite its warm colours and lyrical shapes (notably the sinuous vertical swirl, ressembling water currents), “Eaux vives” remains a one-off in Borderie’s work : the habitual muted colour scheme is broken here by the striking central red oval.
Bibliography :
Exhibition catalogue André Borderie « pour l’homme simplement », Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine 1998
J.J. et B. Wattel, André Borderie et la tapisserie d’Aubusson, Editions Louvre Victoire, 2018
