Picasso and Tapestry
In the 1930’s and then again after WWII, France witnessed a renewed interest in
tapestry and many artists explored this new medium, generally made of wool, in
high or low-warp.
Marie Cuttoli was the first to solicit Picasso and had tapestries made from the
artist’s works she bought, such as the collage “Minotaure” kept in the MNAM
(National Museum of Modern Art) in Paris (woven version at the Picasso Museum
in Antibes, which owns several tapestries after Picasso).
After the war, Pierre Baudouin also developed a passion for this technique and
made possible the production, by the Manufacture des Gobelins, of “Women at
their Toilet”, a project started before the war which had remained unachieved.
Some workshops, such as those of Cauquil-Prince and Dürbach, also made
tapestries from Picasso’s major works such as Guernica, The Demoiselles
d’Avignon, the Minotauromachy.
Picasso’s collaboration took two forms:
1/ He made an “original” cartoon to have it woven
2/ He grants a workshop the right to weave a tapestry form a pre-existing work
In both cases, the edition was limited to eight copies.
The most frequent case is that of the transposed pre-existing work. Picasso in the
end only made but a few specific cartoons, among which “Confidences” (1934,
MNAM) and “Woman at their Toilet” (1938, Picasso Museum, Paris)
The transcription and long production process, often lasting several years, only
gave birth in general to 3 or 4 copies of each tapestry for the most complex
designs.
A strip of cloth or a “bolduc” is sewn at the back of the tapestry indicating the name
and the autograph signature of Picasso, the title and the dimensions of the work as
well as the name of the tapestry workshop and the number of the edition. Only
these duly certified tapestries are considered original and subject to the resale
right.
These tapestries are not to be mistaken for unsigned industrially-manufactured
ornamental carpets which are merchandising products.Sources:
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