Robert WOGENSKY

Member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie), Wogensky was one of the many artists who devoted themselves to tapestry following Lurçat, in the immediate post-war period. First influenced by him, Wogensky’s work (159 Cartoons after the exhibition catalog of 1989) then evolved in the 1960s toward a lyrical abstraction that was not always fully embraced: from cosmic-astronomical themes to forms of birds broken down and in motion, toward Cartoons that were more pared down and less dense. Although he always proclaimed himself to be a painter, the artist’s thinking about tapestry was highly developed: “To realize a wall Cartoon…. it is to think in relation to a space that no longer belongs to us, through its dimensions, its scale; it is also the requirement of a broad gesture that transforms and accentuates our presence.” Indicative of the heroic period of the late 1940s, when the nascent talents of Tourlière, Lagrange, Matégot,… all still young, also flourished—artists inspired by Lurçat and trying to set themselves apart, while still remaining figurative—“the watchman” asserts, in a lyrical and colorful style, his closeness to everyday life (let us note the detail of the striped sweater), at the same time as a strong symbolic connotation: an alarm-raiser in uncertain times. Bibliographie : J. Cassou, M. Damain, R. Moutard-Uldry, la tapisserie française et les peintres cartonniers, Tel, 1957, ill. p.131 Cat. Expo. Robert Wogensky, l’oeuvre tissé, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie, 1989, ill. p .15 Cat. Expo. Robert Wogensky, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1989 Cat. Expo. Jean Lurçat, compagnons de route et passants considérables, Felletin, Eglise, 1992, ill. p.46