An Explanation for the Unplanned Post Removal

The text, including the image and the comments, that was posted on May4 2009, has been removed today and is no longer available.

An anonymous owner of rugs represented by a Maxin Heale (unlawful blog investigator) and/or a Sandrine Xiong, sent us an email on July 25 2009 demanding that we 'remove the blog within seven days, failing which we shall advise our client to commence legal proceedings.'

As asked, we have replied to them and provided all the elements that were elaborated on within the text. Concerning the rug that was pictured and the three French auction catalogues that were mentioned, we confirmed that they were at their free disposal in Paris, should they wish to view them.

In order to be completely clear to our readers, and to avoid any misleading interpretation of the post removal, we certify that neither of the two designers representatives or foundations, and by extension any specialist or carpet expert, has contacted The Carpet Index editors asking for the removal of the post. Nor at any time did they produce any criticism concerning its content.

To avoid any problem concerning the individuals who freely left a comment, we also have preferred to remove them, because it seems the best way to preserve their freedom of expression.

Jean Manuel de Noronha, the original writer of the article is a carpet lover. He believes that there is no point in spending fruitless time and energy on a legal action that should be relegated to the past, as it seems contradictory to the new world of possibilities offered today by an Internet of free and open speech for all.

Instead he would prefer to concentrate his efforts for future posts by promoting the numerous other English carpet designers who also deserve to be known: Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant from the Omega Workshops, Brangwyn, Chermayeff, Marion Dorn, Ronald Grierson, Ashley Havinden, Betty Joel, Archibald Knox, Mcknight Kauffer, Jean Orage, Marian Pepler, Terence Prentis, John Tandy, Charles Francis Annesley Voysey, etc.

Who Produced Robert Indiana's First Love Rug? Charles E Slatkin, Marie Cuttoli or John Gilbert?

Robert Indiana's (American, b. 1928) Love rug is by far the world's best selling carpet designed by an artist in the twentieth century. Almost thirty colour variations of the Love rug exist and were produced in different sizes by various manufacturers. All the registered rugs, carpets and mats with this design total over 15 000 pieces. They appear regularly in any Contemporary Art auction and on Ebay sites worldwide.

The design was initially created for a Christmas card for the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1964. Painted as an oil on canvas in 1966, it was later reproduced as a sculpture in 1970, and consequently exhibited all over the world. In 1973 it was reproduced on an American stamp of which 333 million were printed.

This iconic Pop Art rug, generally called Classic Love, using red letters on a blue and green background, was produced by the artist in conjunction with the master rug maker John Gilbert and the Master Contemporary Original Artist Rugs, as a 6 feet x 6 feet (72in x 72in, 183cm x 183cm) sized rug of which 150 were produced in 1995. A signed and numbered label is glued onto the backing. The rug is tufted and the pile is 100% wool, while the backing is if blue canvas. The signature of the artist is sheared in a corner.

American Tapestries, Charles E Slatkin Galleries, 1968, p23, 10' x 9' 11" (304cm x 301cm). The Carpet Index Library.

For many people this is the first rug produced with this design, but this is not strictly true. In fact Robert Indiana had already contracted an American editor, Charles E Slatkin Inc Galleries of New York, to produce a limited edition of about twenty rugs in 1968 as a hand knotted silk tapestry featuring four Love words and called Love Wall. The carpets were hand woven in India. It was conceptualised in 1968 as a painting and was very soon reproduced as a tapestry/carpet. This design also became a sculpture.

The rug appeared recently in two of the following auctions with a different size and description:

1) Bonhams Ltd, Knightsbridge, London, April 16 2008, lot 104, with the following text: silk and wool tapestry, produced by Modern Master Tapestries Inc, New York, 183cm x 183cm (72 1/16in x 72 1/16in).

2) Lombrail-Teucquam, Paris, May 27 2009 lot 107. Hand knotted in wool, Marie Cuttoli & Lucie Weil editions, less than 20 pieces, 185cm x 185cm.

Living in Paris, I have actually seen the latter rug and can state that there was no Modern Master label attached, but the name INDIANA was embroidered onto the backing along with the C signifying copyright. I have contacted the auction house experts for more details and they were able to explain that besides the reference to Slatkin silk pieces, the French manufacturer had produced other wool rugs with specialist sizes including the present lot 107. These production pieces were limited.

I also looked at the structural photos of the other tapestries from the 1968 Slatkin catalogue contained in my database, and compared them with the last Cuttoli Picasso rugs, they are similar.

This proves that Marie Cuttoli was still active in 1968 through different partnerships and was very involved in the promotion of new American artists. In fact, she never retired completely from the international art and tapestry scene. She died in the 1970s.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

A La Place Clichy - a Leading French Carpet Retailer of the Twentieth Century

In the twentieth century the number of companies involved in the retailing of carpets is of course important, but only a few have managed to gain international recognition and fewer still have been able to sustain that level of recognition.

The Parisian store (Grands Magasins) A La Place Clichy started in 1882, decided to concentrate on retailing oriental carpets from 1890 onwards. The company was particularly aggressive in its advertising campaigns and was one of the world's most innovative companies in its retail and competitive philosophy. In the early 1900s it was the first to advertise its products using black and white illustrations in the popular magazines of the day. They were also the first in the carpet retail trade to commission an artist to produce a coloured Art Nouveau poster. This poster was used throughout the twentieth century as part of the company branding and was to become a well known logo for the store. The poster was designed by the Swiss-French artist Eugene Grasset who was a contemporary of William Morris. As a fine artist and illustrator he was well known for his logo produced for the Larousse Encyclopedia. Grasset's poster was used extensively and could be found in a wide variety of publicity for the company, from adverts in magazines to the cover for their catalogues, and included postcards, ashtrays etc. the poster represents a carpet merchant and his assistant (who is not seen), displaying a rug draped on a camels back. The merchant is facing a customer in a colonial white suit. I believe that the origin of the design probably lies in a small coloured metallic lighter, possibly produced by Carla Kauba in Vienna, which was very popular at the time. The poster was also famous as it was selected for the folio Les Maitres de l'Affiche which was produced in 1895 and was printed by Chaix of Paris.

Eugene Grasset Art Nouveau poster, Les Maitres de l'Affiche 1896. The Carpet Index Library

A La Place Clichy established their reputation with oriental carpets, but they were also able to follow the trends of the market, even though they were not always as successful with their modern carpet lines. During the 1920s they produced work by many designers including:

Francis Jourdain
Jeanne Dangon
Rene Crevel
Edouard Benedictus
Gislain
Emile Gaudissart
Gustave Fayet
Charles Siclis
Jules Coudyser
Suzanne Kaehrling
Doutrelingue
Raisin

Jacques Verge
Solange Patry Bie
Yvonne Fourgeaud
Camille Cless
Magdeleine Dayot

The last five designers in the list were more regularly commissioned than the others. Most of the designers are still largely unknown to the general public and if they had not been mentioned in the company's catalogues, they would have remained forgotten. This is a common occurrence with the majority of the design work produced by the company as they were never reproduced, archived or published. A La Place Clichy is also rarely mentioned in reference books for any of their Art Deco rugs, as the company was very much involved with mechanical Jacquard woven rugs called carpette rather than tapis, and were less prestigious than hand knotted carpets.

In the 1930s they began to specialise in the selling of rugs that were oriental and North African in origin rugs and the work of the production department was reduced. After World War II they created La Boutique in order to promote their skills in modern flooring. The company remained successful until the 1980s, but by the 1990s the store was forced to close permanently.

I wanted to make a comment on this company because they were probably the best at communicating on the subject of the carpet, and even though they were more biased towards the oriental rather than the European, it must be admitted that the posters naive, colourful and exotic imagery showing the carpet being brought to Europe on a camels back, is still very much part of the imagination of the average customer, as any carpet retailer will inform you. The image of a mechanically woven rug wrapped in its plastic packaging and then transported in a truck, is much less of a romantic picture to conjure up for the customer. So cheers to Eugene Grasset and A La Place Clichy.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha