Xavier LONGOBARDI

A young painter evolving towards abstraction from the end of the 1940s, Longobardi was entrusted with large-scale mural decorations in France and abroad (Presidency of the Republic of Abidjan, Rectorate of the Academy of Poitiers...), as well as numerous cartoons for tapestries, particularly for the National Manufactures, with sometimes very modern subjects ("the motorway", "the airport"...). Longobardi was, at the time, with Singier and Springer, one of the first abstract artists to receive public commissions: while his work is abstract, his aesthetic evolved over time, from sharp forms to a more lyrical style full of movement, until the calm of the 1960s.
The highlight of this meteoric official career lies in the commission of "La Crique" for the private dining room on the starboard side of the SS "France". The artist then became much rarer.

Our tapestry shows a marine inspiration that is not so common on "Le France", for which Longobardi has remained on the border between Abstraction (his usual mode of expression) and Figuration. It was sold under number 170 at the Loudmer sale on 10.7.1983, "Works of art from France".

Provenance: Ocean Liner "France"

Bibliography:
Cat. Expo. National Furniture and National Manufactures of Gobelins and Beauvais under the Fourth Republic, Beauvais, Tapestry Gallery, 1997
Armelle Bouchet-Mazas, the France liner, Norma editions, 2006, ill.p.170
Cat. Expo. Chic! Decorative Arts and Furniture from 1930 to 1960, Paris, Gobelins gallery, 2022-23