Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00269

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21578

With a revelatory analysis of how the postwar French tapestry revival provided a medium for modern art and a model for its discourse and marketing on both sides of the Atlantic, Weaving Modernism presents a fascinating reexamination of modernism’s relationship to decoration, reproducibility, and politics. Tapestry offered artists a historically grounded medium for distributing and marketing their work, helped expand the visibility and significance of abstraction at midcentury, and facilitated modernism’s entry into the dominant paradigm of the postwar period. K. L. H. Wells situates tapestry as part of a broader “marketplace modernism” in which artists participated, conjuring a lived experience of visual culture in corporate lobbies, churches, and even airplanes, as well as in galleries and private homes. This extensively researched study features previously unpublished illustrations and little-known works by such major artists as Helen Frankenthaler, Henri Matisse, Robert Motherwell, Pablo Picasso, and Frank Stella.

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Author

PublisherYale University Press

Print publication date March 2019 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780300232592

EISBN 9780300264289

Illustrations 105

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

WorldCat

Google Books

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List of illustrations

Full
Full, plate six from Homage to the Square: Ten Works by Josef Albers
Color and weaving samples for Full
New York City I
Page from Modern Master Tapestries Inc.
Seventh Night
The Cape
The Cape
Untitled (Fourth National Bank and Trust commission)
Phenomena Peal of Bells Cross
Phenomena Mandala Spectrum Turn
Earth Mark
Maquette for Shooting Star
Maquette for Hawkeye
To Miz—Pax Vobiscum
Blue Loup
Purple Loup
Tapestry from a Robert Motherwell painting dominates one wall of the Living Room
Then Came the Water and Quenched the Fire
Then Came Water and Quenched the Fire
Then Came Water and Quenched the Fire
Modern Tapestry
Maquette for Modern Tapestry
Page from Modern Master Tapestries Inc. 1970 catalogue
Thésée et le Minotaur
Apocalypse tapestry
L’été
Detail of a tapestry and the carton numeroté on which it is based
Aubusson
Untitled
Untitled
Brunschwig & Fils’ Factory: View of a portion of the dyeing plant
Mises en bobines des laines teintes
Untitled
Le lissier accentue cet écartement avec une de ses mains et, de l’autre, passe une des flûtes entre les chaînes
En basse lisse ce sont les jambes de l’exécutant qui séparent les fils pairs des fils impairs de la chaîne
Untitled
Tracing the pattern and use of comb, and High-warp weaver at work. Packing the fabric
View of the Court of Justice, High Court Building, Chandigarh
The execution of the tapestries for the High Court at Chandigarh, in a large atelier in Srinagar (Kashmir): 650 m2 of tapestry made in five months
The execution of the tapestries for the High Court at Chandigarh, in a large atelier in Srinagar (Kashmir): 650 m2 of tapestry made in five months
Publicity photograph of the weaving workshop, Bauhaus Dessau
View of the weaving workshop, Bauhaus Dessau, designed by Walter Gropius
Otti Berger on a loom, Bauhaus Dessau
Detail of a loom, weaving workshop, Bauhaus Dessau
Le char des taureaux
Liberté
Guernica
Les femmes à leur toilette
Les demoiselles d’Avignon
Night Fishing at Antibes
Night Fishing at Antibes
Diagram with corrective notes regarding color transparencies of Night Fishing at Antibes
Diagram with notes and color codes for Night Fishing at Antibes tapestry
Les demoiselles d’Avignon tapestry, detail
On the wall hangs a tapestry reproduction of the great painting of 1906/1907, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
Secrets (Confidences) or Inspiration
Papeete (Fenêtre à Tahiti I)
Hirondelle Amour
Hirondelle Amour
Polynésie: Le Ciel
Polynésie: La Mer
Cartoon for Polynésie: Le Ciel
Cartoon for Polynésie: La Mer
Enlargement of Projet pour une tapisserie
Le Luth
Color diagram for Le Luth
Cartoon for Le Luth tapestry
Le Luth
Variation of Polynésie: Le Ciel
Variation of Polynésie: La Mer
Rugs by Jean Lurçat (left) and Fernand Léger (right)
Rugs by René Herbst
Interior of Myrbor boutique
Le Guéridon
Advertisement for Galerie Jeanne Bucher-Myrbor
Monuments of Paris dining chairs
Paris
Le bel été
Illustration of Vicara Rug
Installation photographs of tapestry exhibitions at the Galerie Denise René
Tapestry
Bed
Water Lilies
Water Lilies: Clouds
Water Lilies: Morning with Willows
Interior of Air France Boeing 707 jetliner with tapestry by Yves Millecamps
Interior of Air France Boeing 707 jetliner with tapestry by Camille Hilaire
Sheila Hicks weaving tapestry for Air France
Sheila Hicks with Air France commission in the background
Air France publicity photograph of Boeing 747 with Sheila Hicks tapestry
Library of Gordon Bunshaft’s New York apartment
Unidentified photograph showing Le Corbusier’s Bogota tapestry, likely as installed in Gordon Bunshaft’s East Hampton house
Lobby of the Marine Midland Bank Building, New York
Model of Union Carbide Building, New York
Reconstruction of model for Ideal Museum
Reconstruction of model for Ideal Museum, close-up view showing miniature Pollock paintings
Jackson Pollock exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery, showing, Autumn Rhythm: Number 30, 1950 (left, unstretched)
Jackson Pollock exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery, showing, left to right, Number 32, 1950 (unstretched); One: Number 31, 1950 (unstretched); Number 28, 1950; Number 2, 1950
Short Ball Gown
Abakan Red
Untitled tapestry for AT&T headquarters, New York
Double-page spread of Judy Chicago and Ann Isolde working on the Dinner Party tapestry cartoons
Double-page spread of the San Francisco Tapestry Workshop executing the Dinner Party tapestries
More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid (right) and The Wages of Sin (left)

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Contents

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

Contents

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21579

Free

Acknowledgments

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

~This book began when Nancy Troy, my doctoral adviser at the University of Southern California (USC), handed me a manila file folder with some clippings on modern tapestry and casually suggested I could do something with the topic. Her confidence in the intellectual merits of the project, her indispensable advice on a wide range of issues, and her own...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21580

Introduction

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

Full is a tapestry that exemplifies the geometric abstraction of its creator, Josef Albers (fig. 1). A set of nested squares in saturated hues of red, violet, and teal seem to push forward and pull back...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.1-11

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00269.001

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21581

Chapter subject tags:Tapestry--History--20th centuryAlbers, JosefModernism (Art)Art--Marketing

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Chapter 1: Medium

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

Tapestry operated in the postwar period as both a literal and a metaphorical object. As a literal object that was woven, exhibited, and collected, tapestry was often modeled on painting or made to imitate...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.13-57

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00269.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21582

Chapter subject tags:Tapestry--History--20th centuryAbstract expressionism--United StatesColor-field paintingNavajo weaversArt--Reproduction

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Chapter 2: Revival

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

In the summer of 1946, Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper’s Bazaar, sent a telegram from Paris to Monroe Wheeler, director of exhibitions for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.59-105

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00269.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21583

Chapter subject tags:Tapestry--History--20th centuryRevival movements (Art)Tapestry--France

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Chapter 3: Reproduction

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

In 1938, just one year after completing his landmark painting Guernica, Pablo Picasso created a tapestry model for the Parisian dealer and collector Marie Cuttoli...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.107-155

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00269.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21584

Chapter subject tags:Tapestry--History--20th centuryArt--ReproductionRockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979Art--CommissioningArt dealers

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Chapter 4: Decoration

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

On 15 April 1958, a fire broke out at MoMA that destroyed one of the museum’s most popular works, a large Water Lilies painting by Claude Monet. Acquired by the museum only three years before...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.157-211

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00269.005

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21585

Chapter subject tags:Tapestry--History--20th centuryModernism (Art)Interior walls--DecorationArt--Commissioning

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Conclusion

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

In the previous pages, I have sketched out episodes in the history of modern French tapestry that can be summarized briefly as follows. In the 1930s, a new wave of efforts began to recruit modern artists to provide tapestry designs...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.213-235

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00269.006

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21586

Chapter subject tags:Tapestry--History--20th centuryModernism (Art)FiberworkFeminism and art

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Abbreviations

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

Abbreviations

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21587

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Bibliography

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

Bibliography

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21588

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Illustration Credits

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

~The photographers and the sources of visual material other than the owners indicated in the captions are as follows. Every effort has been made to supply complete and correct credits; if there are errors or omissions, please contact Yale University Press so that corrections can be made in any subsequent edition.

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21589

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Index

Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry Between Paris and New York

Index

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21590