From Deseret News archives:
Tapestries by the masters
Mix of modern art with ancient methods offers bold abstract designs
In the 1930s, as modern art was grabbing the attention of the art world, a Frenchman named Jean Lurcat developed a simplified system of weaving that allowed him to create modern tapestries. It was a process he enjoyed, he told fellow artist Pablo Picasso, because "one fiber of my wool is a thousand times more precious than a piece of your paper."
That playful taunt led Picasso to try it with some of his own art works, and other 20th-century modernists soon followed.
That mini-Renaissance of tapestry work, stretching from the 1950s to the 1990s, has resulted in an eye-dazzling exhibit now on display at Brigham Young University's Museum of Art.
It's an exhibit that you can enjoy on many different levels, says its curator, Paul Anderson. First, it is an exhibition of modern art. "This is a rare opportunity in Utah to see works of major modern masters," he says, adding, how many times do we get to see original Picassos or Chagalls?
You can also enjoy the exhibit as fiber art learn about the techniques and process of tapestry-weaving, both ancient and modern. You can learn, for example, that it differs from weaving cloth, in that with cloth, warp threads extend the full length of the piece, but with tapestry, warp threads do not go all the way across; each color area is woven separately.
Looking through the eyes and words of Lurcat, you can also appreciate wool. "Well, it is a fabric," he wrote, "no more nor less than a fabric. But it is a coarse, rigorous, organic fabric . . . it is heavy with matter and heavy with meaning. But it is more; it is heavy with intentions."
What Anderson enjoys most about the exhibit are the contrasts and contradictions it provides. "This exhibition is a fusion of new and old the bold abstract designs of modernism and the ancient techniques of hand-woven tapestry."
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