Serpent of stars
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Tabard workshop.
With its label signed by the artist.
1961.
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".
“Star Serpent” refers to the eponymous constellation (but also to Giono's work), at a time (the 1960s) when his taste for lyrical absolute led Wogensky to treat stars, Space, galaxies, from “Cassiopée” in 1961, “Song of the Stars” in 1962 (presented at the Lausanne Biennale), to “Galaxy” (1970), preserved in the Senate.
A similar tapestry is kept by the Limousin Regional Council.
Bibliography:
Exhibition Cat. Robert Wogensky, tapestries, Galerie la Demeure, 1962, reproduced
Exhibition Cat. Robert Wogensky, the woven work, Aubusson, Departmental Museum of Tapestry, 1989
Exhibition Cat. Robert Wogensky, Angers, Jean Lurçat Museum and Contemporary Tapestry, 1989-1990, reproduced p.20
Exhibition Cat. Dialogues with Lurçat, Museums of Lower Normandy, 1992, reproduced p.73
Gérard Denizeau, Denise Majorel, a life for tapestry, Aubusson, Departmental Museum of Tapestry, reproduced p.67
