Decorum Carpets and Tapestries by artists

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Exhibition

Decorum Carpets and Tapestries by artists.

Venue

Modern Art Museum of Paris

Maitre d'ouvrage

La ville de Paris - Paris Musées

Project manager

Christine Ilex Beinemeier

Area

2000 m²

General set-up comprising woodworking of the podiums, plinths, rails, furniture, installation on site, painting of all the volumes, concealment of the tapestry ceiling, installation of show case windows, making of glass covers.

Artistic direction: Marc Camille Chaimowicz

From October 11th 2013 to February 9th 2014

Decorum

Textile Art at the Museum of Modern Art, Paris

The Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris put the spotlights on textile art through the Decorum exhibition, which showcases more than a hundred carpets and tapestries signed by modern artists (Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso) and contemporary artists like (Dewar & Gicquel, Vidya Gastaldon). Decorum proposes to discover woven works, often unsuspected by major artists and the works of unjustly unknown artists such as (Guidette Carbonell). Anonymous pieces from different eras and regions are also exhibited to detect influences and engage confrontational discussions. These creations are both visual and tactile, aesthetic and functional, easily transportable carpets and tapestries transcend the usual boundaries of decorative arts and design. (Le Corbusier called his tapestries «Muralnomad»).

Textile Art

From Tradition to Innovation

Until the end of the 19th century, painters limited themselves to drawing cardboard to be woven or depicting oriental carpets in their paintings (Lotto, Holbein, Delacroix). During the 20th century, the European artistic avant-garde revolutionized the aesthetics and technique of textile art. Artists wove their own carpets, referring to ancient pieces or using ethnic and geometric motifs.

Often carrying a political or feminist message from the 1960s, carpets and tapestries have aroused a significant revival of interest since the 2000s. Young contemporary artists such as Caroline Achaintre and Pae White produced original woven pieces that integrate tradition, modernity or extra-western influences; they also experiment with new techniques, such as digital weaving.

Reviving Textile Art

Between Tradition and Modernity

The exhibition thus goes against the conventional ideas presenting tapestry as a minor or anachronistic art. It also allows to reconnect with a little known history of the museum which had an Art and Textile department Creation in the 1980s.

London artist Marc Camille Chaimowicz, guest artistic director, designed the exhibition’s original scenography in collaboration with architect Christine IlexBeinemeier. Jean-Philippe Antoine, professor of aesthetics, Chaimowicz offers a program of specific music which is broadcasted as a background in the exhibition.

Artists

Magdalena Abakanowicz; Caroline Achaintre; Anni Albers; Olga de Amaral; Leonor Antunes; Stefano Arienti; John M Armleder; Atelier E.B. (Lucy McKenzie et Beca Lipscombe); Ateliers Wissa Wassef; Michel Aubry; Tauba Auerbach; Francis Bacon; Giacomo Balla; Mark Barrow et Sarah Parke; Nina Beier; Anna Betbeze; Michael Beutler; Pierrette Bloch; Alighiero Boetti; Louise Bourgeois; Brassaï; Geta Brătescu; Jagoda Buić; Pierre Buraglio; Alexander Calder; Guidette Carbonell; Gillian Carnegie; Marc Camille Chaimowicz; Claude Closky; Isabelle Cornaro; Lucien Coutaud; Alexandre da Cunha; Pierre Daquin; Sonia Delaunay; Dewar & Gicquel; Latifa Echakhch; Marius Engh; Noa Eshkol; Frederick Etchells (Omega Workshops); Gustave Fayet; Lissy Funk; Ryan Gander; Vidya Gastaldon; Yann Gerstberger; Françoise Giannesini; Elsi Giauque; Piero Gilardi; Thomas Gleb; Daniel Graffin; Josep Grau-Garriga; Helen Frances Gregor; Marcel Gromaire; Sheila Hicks; Jim Isermann; Johannes Itten; Sergej Jensen; Asger Jorn et Pierre Wemaëre; Mike Kelley; Abdoulaye Konaté; Maria Lai; François-Xavier Lalanne; Bertrand Lavier; Le Corbusier Jules Leclercq; Fernand Léger; Jean Lurçat; Märta Måås Fjetterström; Karin Mamma Andersson; Mathieu Matégot; Gustave Miklos; Yves Millecamps; Joan Miró; Aldo Mondino; William Morris; Barbro Nilsson; Albert Oehlen; Nathalie du Pasquier; Mai-Thu Perret; Jean Picart Le Doux; Pablo Picasso; Présence Panchounette; Otto Prutscher; Robert Camille Quesnel (Frères Braquenié); Elizabeth Radcliffe; Carol Rama; Dom Robert; Gerwald Rockenschaub; Willem de Rooij; Dieter Roth & Ingrid Wiener; Mariette Rousseau-Vermette; Hannah Ryggen; Wojciech Sadley; Akiko Sato; Judith Scott; Kay Sekimachi; Shirana Shahbazi; Ivan da Silva Bruhns; Gunta Stölzl; Sophie Taeuber-Arp; Rosemarie Trockel; Maryn Varbanov; Victor Vasarely; Vincent Vulsma; Franz West; Vivienne Westwood; Pae White; Evelyn Wyld.