Composition
Tapestry.
1976.
Aristide Caillaud is one of the leading figures in Art Brut; needless to say, his connection with tapestry was not a foregone conclusion. He was, however, commissioned to produce a woven cartoon in 1955, ‘Mon village’ (more naïve than ‘art brut’, incidentally), for the Manufacture de Beauvais, a testament to the eclecticism prevailing in the choices made at the time (Eve and Bauchant were also commissioned).
Our design, created later (1976), is typical of Caillaud’s dreamlike inspiration: the complex composition, with its compartmentalised drawing and dense colours, is populated by fantastical figures moving around a tree (a recurring motif, especially at that time) whose branches end in blossoming flowers : a singular, woven work of art.
