Pierre DUBREUIL

The story is well known: following the commission for the ‘4 Parts of the World’ to be woven at the Gobelins, Dubreuil was one of the 3 artists, along with Gromaire and Lurçat, sent by Guiillaume Janneau, administrator of the Manufactures Nationales, to Aubusson at the end of 1939, to renovate local tapestry production (with the commission for a hanging on the theme of Gardens). Although he shared Lurçat’s ideas on the influence that medieval tapestry should have in revitalising the medium, his abundant and resolutely naturalistic cartoons (lacking the dreamlike quality of Coutaud, for example) distanced him from his colleague, in favour of a closer relationship with the work of Maingonnat.

Our tapestry bears witness to Dubreuil’s collaboration with Antoine Behna’s A.R.T. (Tapestry Renovation Workshop), for which Janneau – who had fallen into disrepute due to his role during the War – served as artistic and technical adviser. The allegorical subject matter and academic style reflect Dubreuil’s classicism: for Behna, he also produced ‘Vendémiaire’, Vera ‘Fructidor’ and four tapestries depicting the Seasons – all subjects that are eminently traditional in tapestry.

Bibliography : G. Janneau, A. Behna, Tapisseries de notre temps, 1950, n°71