The Francis Bacon and da Silva Bruhns Carpet, Part 2

The information in this post has been updated. For more details check the October 16 2009 post, or the articles published in The Art Newspaper in October 2009 or Hali in December 2009, to which The Carpet Index has been associated.

A comment left in June about our first blog post concerning the Bacon/da Silva Bruhns rug, has required us to produce an updated post with complementary information, in order to avoid any misleading interpretations. The comment is listed, as received, at the end of this post.

Bacon's rug p. 21 (original in colour) from Contemporary Rugs, Chistopher Farr eds., 2002. The Carpet Index Library

1) Latest Post
Our original post was followed by an exchange of emails with Clive Rogers from www.orient-rug.com, who had the opportunity to see the Francis Bacon rugs for himself. It appears that the signature was actually woven with the rest of the rug. From the photos of the backing of the Francis Bacon rug, we are able to classify Bacon's work in at least two of the following groups:

i) Rugs designed by Bacon from compositions inspired by other designers like da Silva Bruhns. We estimate that these pieces were produced at the beginning of his career in London in 1928-29.

ii) Rugs from Bacon's own art work, the original design being either a specific composition for a rug, or an abstract painting that would have been transposed for the floor (see Bacon's studio paintings of Roy de Maistre). These carpets were produced in 1929-30.

Regarding the weaving workshop, from the different photos seen, we are not able to identify with absolute certainty, where the actual weaving of the rugs took place. We have excluded a continental knotting, French or Belgian, and consider that it could either have been produced by Donegal, or the first type of weaving method used by the Wilton Royal Carpet Factory Ltd. The latter would have have been changed for another double knot technique that was then used for its rugs. On this particular subject, research is still ongoing.

2) Details about Jean Manuel de Noronha
The comment below is an opinion, and therefore does not necessarily bring any new information in order to solve the problems encountered. However, it might help to clarify the situation by stating the qualifications of de Noronha, in order to set the record straight. Therefore, we can confirm that Jean Manuel de Noronha has no connection with any auction house, merchant, or antique seller. He has been involved professionally for over 15 years in the business of modern oriental rugs and wall-to-wall floor coverings. He began his desk and field research for documentation in 1992. He is not officially registered as an expert and does not act as such; however, he can provide professional documentary assistance when and if required. The present blog offers the opportunity to express his personal opinions and to share his passion for his subject through the wider audience made available by the Internet.

3) Comment of Mr Ruach

Having reviewed a number of related online articles of similar themes, it is becoming apparent that a vicious "spin" campaigned is being organised by a small circle of "so called carpet auctioneers and experts".

Simply waving some names and references to purport as research is just not good enough. Some of these armchair experts, having never seen the carpet themselves, let alone physical proof of materials etc. just revel in "stating the contrary".

Online conspiracy theories are rife and sadly some individuals seem to have not only lost others but their own marbles too.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

A Roy Lichtenstein rug to add to the Artist's Foundation Catalogue

For a documentalist it would seem obvious to consider museums and foundations as a useful source of information for a specific artist. This statement however, has to be tempered by the real situation concerning rugs and carpets, the information available being slim and often unreferenced. So what are the possible reasons for this situation? This field is not considered essential reference material for the interpretation and understanding of the life and works of an artist. For many artists, rug design is considered 'made after' rather than 'made by' pieces of artwork. De facto, these creations have become secondary, and seem to have been placed between multiples and copied works.

The problem with this approach, in the long term, is that these pieces of artwork remain unstudied for generations and certain facts can remain ignored (see the Francis Bacon post as a good example). The result is a huge difficulty when collecting information, especially after the death of the artist. Generally, museums and foundations will provide contextual and bibliographical notes, rather than specific information on carpets and their weaving techniques.

Roy Lichtenstein, Composition, p34, Art Surface Collection, 1993. The Carpet Index Library

Among the institutions that have contributed towards my study, through their web site and emails, in the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. The present post is in order to thank them and to contribute towards their catalogue.

Roy Lichtenstein created piled tapestries, produced by the Charles Slatkin Gallery in New York during the 1960s. Some wall-to-wall carpets were also produced by the German manufacturer Vorwerk. The only rug I have referenced is shown above. it is inspired by artwork from his last period, but unfortunately I was not able to determine the exact original painting. The rug is called Composition and is part of the Art Surface Collection. It was produced by the Sedcome Edition company of Paris in the 1990s.

The rug was initially referenced for the catalogue in a standard size of 2m x 3m and a license was signed to produce 100 copies. The rug could be purchased either with a hand-tufted or hand-knotted technique, and eventually individual sizes were produced. The name of the artist was generally embroidered onto a textile band, which was then cut and glued onto the backing, on a corner of the rug. The artist usually received several example rugs.

The rug has appeared in a number of different auctions, for example: Espace Tajan, July 1 2005, lot 450, and in a sale this year in the United States.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Pablo Picasso's First Mybor Rugs. The Beginning of a Life Long Friendship and Valuable Collaboration with Marie Cuttoli

Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, did not specifically design rugs for decorative use. Nevertheless, carpets were regularly produced using his artwork throughout the second half of the twentieth century. This type of limited edition is quite common today, but they in fact began much earlier for Picasso.

In the 1920s Marie Cuttoli created a textile art gallery in Paris called Myrbor. In the beginning she purchased small works from Picasso and other artists, in order to reproduce them as hand-woven carpets in a workshop in Algeria. As well as this, she was very much involved, with her companion Henri Laugier, in collecting and promoting Cubist artists. Through these regular contacts a strong friendship developed between Cuttoli and Picasso, which lasted their entire lives.

The biggest tribute that this unique couple made to the history of art is their Picasso donation of about twenty Cubist works by Picasso to the Musee National d'Art Moderne (French National Modern Art Museum), also known as the Centre George Pompidou, in Paris.

Picasso/Myrbor rug, plate 23, Tapis Modernes by Maurice Matet, Henri Ernst ed., 1929. The Carpet Index Library

For our purposes, the result of this friendship was that Picasso provided about fifteen carpet designs to Cuttoli of which the last were always sold through the Weil-Seligman Gallery in the 1980s.

The first two paintings transformed into rugs are Verre et Pipe (Glass and Pipe) 22cm x 27cm (1917), and Pipe (see image) 38cm x 46cm (1918). They are both reproduced in Cahiers d'Art (1949) by Christian Zervos, Vol 3 1917-1919, and belong to Picasso's so-called Montrouge period. There are a number of small differences between them.

My research could not trace the location of the original works today, nor when they left the Cuttoli collection.

The second composition is much better known, as it is one of the large carpets that were purchased in 1928 by Helena Rubinstein for her New York apartment. It has been mentioned regularly in articles and books (see Susan Day, Art Deco and Modernist Carpets). Recently a similar rug could be seen at www.eurorugs.co.uk. Surprisingly a rug representing the first design was presented without a Picasso attribution in the following auction catalogue: Christie's New York, December 8 2004, Lot 50.

My feeling is that only a small number of these rugs were ever woven, and with no standard dimensions. In the transposition from painting to carpet, slight differences are noticeable.

This post is a tribute to both Marie Cuttoli's work and her fantastic personality. It will most definitely not be the last tribute, as her influence on the history of carpet and tapestry design in both Europe and North America, was immense.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The Carpet Index Blog. A Rich Experience of 20th Century Rug Design. To be Continued

When I began this blog with John Hopper, I really had no idea how things would evolve. After these first three to four months, I would like to thank all the visitors to the blog, especially the first four followers for their support. I was also very pleased to read the web references to the blog and the compliments received.

One objective of The Carpet Index was to see if the blog would give me the opportunity to contact people who share the same interests. That has definitely been the case. I have been contacted, for example, by various individuals from France, the UK and the US regarding the work of Ivan da Silva Bruhns, Fernand Leger and Francis Bacon. A special mention should also be made to the individuals and companies that gave me the rights for the reproduction of the images which contributed so much towards the quality of this blog.

With the help of John Hopper, I will continue with the present formula of producing about four posts per month. Due to our various and wide-ranging commitments, it will not always be easy to keep strictly to this schedule, so I apologize in advance if there are any small delays which should appear in the future. However, we will definitely try to keep them to a minimum.

Meanwhile, for all the newcomers to the blog, we will regularly publish and update an index of all our posts, sorted by designer's and companies' names. This list will complement the search box already present on the left hand side of the page. We are dedicated to giving you as comfortable and comprehensive a reading platform as we can and therefore will continue to introduce new elements which we hope will improve the blog.

I have never previously been involved in web publishing, but I must say that so far it has been an altogether pleasant and rewarding experience, and if you have any doubts about doing the same, I wouldn't hesitate to say, do it!

Again THANK YOU ALL!

The Carpet Index Post Guide

• Francis BACON-----May 4 2009
• Ernest BOICEAU-----February 9 2009
• Alexander CALDER-----April 17 2009
• Joseph CSAKY-----April 19 2009
• Marie CUTTOLI-----April 17 2009
• Jacques DOUCET-----April 21 2009
• EGE-----May 30 2009
• Paul FOLLOT-----May 10 2009
• Jean LURCAT-----April 21 2009; April 19 2009
• Louis MARCOUSSIS-----April 21 2009
• Mathieu MATEGOT-----May 26 2009
• Verner PANTON-----May 30 2009
• Serge POLIAKOFF-----April 16 2009
• Emile-Jacques RUHLMANN-----May 10 2009
• Yves SAINT LAURENT-----February 9 2009
• Ivan da SILVA BRUHNS-----May 4 2009; February 9 2009
• Charles E. SLATKIN----- April 17 2009
• UNIKA VAEV-----May 30 2009
• Victor VASARELY-----May 30 2009