Maurice BRIANCHON

The important and significant place that Maurice Brianchon occupies in the movement to renew the art of tapestry owes a lot to his relationship with Jacques Adnet. A teacher at the Ecole nationale supérieure des Arts décoratifs, Brianchon was known for his murals, also as a set designer for the theatre, and during the war years, as the creator of 6 cartoons for the Compagnie des Arts Français (which with the 2 others he produced for the Manufactures Nationales, will be the only ones he produced).
If his style is similar to that of the Nabis (and most notably Vuillard), the themes he uses in his tapestries are more characteristic of the grand French tradition of which, at the time, the Compagnie des Arts, was the champion : fauns, divinities, anachronic juxtapositions… are evoked in a poetic and dream-like atmosphere which is both refined and even precious.

‘Le Ballet’, a carton woven at the Gobelins, is a contemporary work; while the general composition is retained here (actors on “the boards” in costumes similar to those designed by the artist at the time for Marivaux’s “Fausses confidences”, side scenery, perspective, etc.), Brianchon opted for monochrome here and, for once, the carton woven in private workshops is larger than that produced at the Manufactures Nationales.

Bibliography :
J. Cassou, M. Damain, R. Moutard-Uldry, la tapisserie française et les peintres-cartonniers, Editions Tel, 1957
Cat. Expo. Dialogues avec Lurçat, Musées de Basse-Normandie, 1992
Symposium Jean Lurçat et la renaissance de la Tapisserie à Aubusson, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1992, ill. n°9
Cat. Expo. Le Mobilier National et les Manufactures Nationales des Gobelins et de Beauvais sous la IVe République, Beauvais, galerie nationale de la tapisserie, 1997