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Lot Essay
cf. G. Bazin, M. Brion, M. Fare, Les Tapisseries de Mathieu Matégot, Paris, 1962, p. 32.
In the early 1960's Mathieu Matégot deliberately abandoned the avant-guard metal furnishings he had been designing since his return to Paris in 1944 - after World War II - to devote himself to the art of tapestry and become one of the leaders of the modern tapestry movement.
A dynamic revival of traditional French weaving in modernist terms flourished in France the post war years largely inspired by Jean Lurçat, a Parisian neighbor of Matégot's after the war. Matégot's initial interest in tapestry began in the late 1930s, sparked by the art collector and spirited patron of the arts, Marie Cuttoli. A pioneer of this tapestry arts revival, in the early 1930s, Cuttoli commissioned artists such as Lurçat, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braques, Ferdinand Léger and Henri Matisse to have a few of their pictures made by the looms at Aubusson, one of the great historic tapestry houses of France. Matégot first met François Tabard, the master weaver in charge of the Atelier Tabard Frères et Soeurs at Aubusson, yet another important driving force in the tapestry arts revival, in 1945 and gave him his first cartoons, thus beginning Matégot's longstanding relationship with Aubusson. It was here that that the present piece, most likely a unique example, was made in the 1950s and where Matégot had tapestries woven until the end of his career.
Unlike other tapestry artists, Matégot did not come to the art form as a painter, stepping in on an occasional basis; his cartoons were conceived solely for the looms. With a deep understanding of the restrictions of the craft of weaving, and working within the restricted color palate which characterized the modern tapestry artists, he achieved astounding pictorial freedom and is credited with being one of the first, if not the first, artist to create rigorously abstract designs for tapestry.
Matégot created no less 629 tapestry works, examples of which can be seen hanging in the National Library of Australia in Canberra, the Rouen Prefecture in France, the Bank of International Settlements in Basel and in museum collections including The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In the early 1960's Mathieu Matégot deliberately abandoned the avant-guard metal furnishings he had been designing since his return to Paris in 1944 - after World War II - to devote himself to the art of tapestry and become one of the leaders of the modern tapestry movement.
A dynamic revival of traditional French weaving in modernist terms flourished in France the post war years largely inspired by Jean Lurçat, a Parisian neighbor of Matégot's after the war. Matégot's initial interest in tapestry began in the late 1930s, sparked by the art collector and spirited patron of the arts, Marie Cuttoli. A pioneer of this tapestry arts revival, in the early 1930s, Cuttoli commissioned artists such as Lurçat, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braques, Ferdinand Léger and Henri Matisse to have a few of their pictures made by the looms at Aubusson, one of the great historic tapestry houses of France. Matégot first met François Tabard, the master weaver in charge of the Atelier Tabard Frères et Soeurs at Aubusson, yet another important driving force in the tapestry arts revival, in 1945 and gave him his first cartoons, thus beginning Matégot's longstanding relationship with Aubusson. It was here that that the present piece, most likely a unique example, was made in the 1950s and where Matégot had tapestries woven until the end of his career.
Unlike other tapestry artists, Matégot did not come to the art form as a painter, stepping in on an occasional basis; his cartoons were conceived solely for the looms. With a deep understanding of the restrictions of the craft of weaving, and working within the restricted color palate which characterized the modern tapestry artists, he achieved astounding pictorial freedom and is credited with being one of the first, if not the first, artist to create rigorously abstract designs for tapestry.
Matégot created no less 629 tapestry works, examples of which can be seen hanging in the National Library of Australia in Canberra, the Rouen Prefecture in France, the Bank of International Settlements in Basel and in museum collections including The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.