The Carpet Index

American Abstract Expressionist Pile Tapestries from the 1970s. Have they been bypassed by Art Historians? The Case of the Works of Theodorus Stamos

2009-12-24T12:59:00.000Z

Recently I have been consulted in order to provide information on a pile tapestry signed Stamos. The artist was of course already registered in my database. But data was unsatisfactory in providing a complete statement about the tapestry. So work had to be done as the dead time was too short for the sale, I will share the results in this present article.

Theodorus Stamos (1922-1997), was an American artist born in New York, whose parents were Greek immigrants. He studied sculpture under Simon Kennedy and Joseph Kouzal at the American Artist School, New York in 1936. He then worked as a teacher in a number of different institutions such as: Black Mountain College in North Carolina, the Art Students' League in New York, and Columbia University, School of Fine Arts in New York.

Tapestry design signed and annotated by the artist in Thedorus Stamos 1922-1997, a retrospective, no 116 p305, National Gallery of Art

In parallel with his work, he took up painting and exhibited his works for the first time in 1943. Influenced by Surrealism in the beginning, his style evolved towards abstraction after a trip to Europe. In the 1950s he joined the New York group called The Irascibles. In 1947 he met and became a close friend of Mark Rothko. He received several awards and became one of the youngest painters of the American Abstract Expressionist movement. In the 1970s he was involved in an important legal suit concerning the Rothko estate. Meanwhile, he repeated his travels in Greece and the Islands and finally moved there, where he organized a number of events and exhibitions with the local population. The paintings from this period belonged to the Infinity Fields series and followed the Sun-Boxes (1963-70). Theodorus Stamos works are now in numerous major private and public museum collections.

Soon Stamos became interested in textile art and began a collaboration with Gloria Finn lasting from 1954 to 1963, producing hooked rugs and tapestries. A work from that period was given by Gloria Finn to the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Later in 1968 he reinvested in this field with the E. Charles Slatkin Inc. Galleries. Two of his woollen works, Sunset 8 and Red Square, were illustrated in the catalogue of the exhibition entitled American Tapestries published that same year. These tapestries follow the Sun-Boxes style, very much influenced by Mark Rothko. In the book Theodorus Stamos 1922-1977, a Retrospective (Anna Kafetsi ed., National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, 1997), other details are provided for the tapestries that were produced between 1970-1975 in the Infinity Fields style, especially from the Lefkada series. The maquettes and preparatory designs donated by Regina Slatkin and her family to the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. and the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh, N.Y., (clubs.plattsburgh.edu) were made in the form of collages as in his other paintings. Furthermore they were carefully annotated with comments about the colours, material and height of the pile. Sometimes several months were necessary to determine a satisfactory outcome for the artist. For that reason differences appeared between the original drawings and the final pieces. The woollen piled tapestries edited by Slatkin and hand knotted in India, bear the signature in the pile and were produced in limited numbers of 10-12 units. His largest work was a commission for the lobby of an office building at 150 East 58th Street, Manhattan.

After having looked through many reference books and catalogues of Theodorus Stamos, we have extended the search to other artists of the 1968 Slatkin exhibition such as Jim Dine, Robert Motherwell and Frank Stella. We have stated that generally the tapestries are not referenced by art historians and biographers even if they are not copies. So a lot still remains to be done in 2010 for the artists' foundations, researchers and The Carpet Index.

News and Auctions

1)Omega Workshops update: as we have referenced the carpets from the Omega Workshops in a previous article, we can now add a new one found in the collection of the Minneapolis Art Museum, US, by Roger Fry, 1914, 241.3cm x 185.4cm (95in x 73in), ref. 2001.56 (www.artsmia.org).

2)Francis Bacon: post update. Thanks to the Tate exhibition on the early years of the artist, Clive Rogers and I have included a new rug in our reference catalogue. The rug is present in a black and white photo published in the Sphere magazine in 1933. The same design was represented as a painting in the background of a work by Roy de Maistre called Still Life from 1933, at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, reproduced in the Maistre biography. This example is the only one where we can compare a painting and the related rug of Francis Bacon. The global figure of rugs by Bacon can now be evaluated as 14. More details of our study will be available this week in the bimonthly magazine for Oriental and Classical carpets, Hali.

Article Written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The Floor Experience of the Contemporary French Fashion Designer Christian Lacroix, or the Way to his 'Ideal Carpet': DRAG-IN-DRAG-ON

2009-12-20T16:04:00.004Z

In December 2009 the French courts refused the last proposal of a buyer for the purchase of the fashion house of Christian Lacroix. Even if the designer is no longer to be the owner of the company, this decision clearly indicates the end of the haute couture collections of the last French baroque couturier of the twentieth century.

Born in 1951, Christian Lacroix has always claimed his attachment to his native town of Arles in Provence and to that of its culture, tradition and folklore. He studied art, especially the textiles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He then started working for the couturier Jean Patou in 1981. In 1987 he created his own company with the assistance of the French Louis Vuitton-Moet-Hennessy Group and created collections of haute couture and pret-a-porter. Fascinated by the luxurious textiles and traditional embroideries of the past, his creative work always tended to contemporise all of these diverse aspects of art and craft in order to make them relevant to the modern world. During this period the collaboration with the designer's Garouste & Bonetti for the decoration of his show room, was widely publicised and commented upon by the press and general media. A fashion 'Jack of all trades', he even designed stamps, and also illustrations for Larousse. In 1995 he created a line of textile products for the domestic home. After 2000 Christian Lacroix diversified his activities, working for Pucci as a Creative Director (2002-5), designed the uniforms for the Air France airline company, collaborating with the industrial companies Compin & MBD Design. The high speed train TGV and the third trolley line for Montpellier count as amongst his commercial design successes. In 2004 he designed all of the interior decoration for the Hotel du Petit Moulin (Little Windmill) in Paris. He received an American award for the most influential fashion designer.

Christian Lacroix Drag-in-Drag-on carpet for Tools Galerie, Paris, Carpet Stories, January-March 2009. (Copyright Tools Galerie & Daniel Schweizer)

His floor experience is listed with the following:

1)Autumn-Winter 2007 and Summer 2008: the La Redoute Collection. Always ready to adapt himself to new challenges, he accepted an offer to work for La Redoute, a major retail company selling through mail order catalogues, and built up two colourful collections of articles for Winter 2007 and Summer 2008. Among the articles produced (garments, furniture, plates, etc), there were three tufted rugs at affordable prices at around 140 - 175 euros (180 - 230 USD), available in three sizes: 20cm x 180cm, 170cm x 230cm and 200cm x 290cm. The style recalled that of the work of Picard-Ledoux from the late 1960s, or that of Spanish embroidery work particularly with the black and white rug called Goyesca.

2)December 4 2007 - December 4 2008: The 'Suite' for the Parisian museum, Cite de l'Architecture & du Patrimoine, and that of the sponsorship of La Redoute, the magazine Elle Decoration and the Danish manufacturer Ege, for floor wall to wall carpets. He also decorated the apartment of Jean Carlu, called for the event La Suite Elle Decoration.

3)May 17 - December 31 2008: The Reattu Museum exhibition. He used all of the modern technology of the Ege manufacturer to produce floor coverings for an exhibition that mixed his works, collectibles and the collections of the Reattu Museum in Arles. A surrealistic sonorous atmosphere was created by the mixture of objects coming from different origins and periods, including contemporary works by Jean-Michel Othoniel and Daniel Firman.

4)January 29 - March 28 2009: Drag-in-Drag-on carpet. His last rug creation was for the Parisian design gallery Tools (www.toolsgalerie.com) that exhibited eight designers' works in an event called Carpets' Stories. Christian Lacroix collaborated and realised the design of the Drag-in-Drag-on carpet. The creation of the rug took over six months and the communication between editor, designer and manufacturer was on a regular basis during its construction. It was tufted by Tai Ping, using both wool and silk, and employed different lengths of pile; it measured 200cm x 290cm. The edition was limited to eight pieces, two artist samples and one prototype, and was available for about 30 000 euros each. For the couturier it featured a Chimera, an abstract animal coming from the tradition that symbolised the permanent fight and obsessions of the author confronted by the never ending need for creation. In a corner of the composition, the rug began with a design inherited from the French baroque Savonneries. However, the classical lines very quickly were confronted with the invasion of images produced by the Chimera. Lacroix had not chosen to represent a finished classical western carpet with its symmetry and regular borders, but instead chose to feature his personal creative processes like an artist. Lacroix influenced by the flamenco culture, knew of course, about the tradition of bull fighting.

Personally I like to imagine that the carpet is rather like the skin of the dragon, killed in a mortal combat for creativity. Now it lies on the floor like a valuable trophy in the form of a 'Golden Fleece', therefore it is neither a tapestry nor a wall hanging. Here Lacroix achieved a real original and personal work of art that has nothing in common with his previous floor works. Unfortunately the illustration shown in this article does not allow us to show the different lengths in the pile and the silky sections that reinforced the unfinished, strange and precious effect of the carpet. It expresses all of the aspects of the creativity of the artist: an extravagant mix of diverse influences and colours. Our only observation concerns the shape of the rug. If he had wanted to enrich the idea of exuberance he could have left one corner and given an irregular shape to the piece, such as some structural threads in a fleece. Having chosen to remain rectangular, confirms the strength of his classical attachment; he did not cross the line. For all of these reasons I qualify this creation as his 'Ideal Carpet', in reference to an interview made where he describes his ideal house.

Such an involvement of a designer in this field is not at all common today and seems well worth a post, does it not?

News and Auctions

1)The Ruhlmann Archives from the Musee des Annees Trente in Boulogne Billancourt are classified as works of art and therefore not available to the general public.

2)Several times we have mentioned the French editor Art Surface (see Lichtenstein and Poliakoff posts). We have learned that the parent establishment of that company still exists and certain models can be ordered. For further information contact: Ste. Sedcome, 17 rue Saint Senoc 75017 Paris, France, or The Carpet Index.

3)December 16 2009: Christies London: a pile tapestry by Victor Pasmore.

4)December 16 2009: Sotheby's New York: three carpets by Jules Coudyser, Austrian Secession and C.F.A Voysey (Donnemara design).

5)December 17 2009: Dorotheum, Germany: a runner by Ege of Andy Warhol.

6)December 21 2009: three rugs by Calder (Mobile), Warhol (Flowers) and Yvaral (son of Vasarely).

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The 1960s 'Prince of Prints' Rug Collection of Italian Fashion Designer Emilio Pucci

2009-12-13T23:44:00.002Z

We will finish this year with a series of lighter articles that will outline the creativity within carpet design in the second half of the twentieth century. The first is devoted to Emilio Pucci, Marchese di Barsento (1914-1992), a major Italian personality within the fashion industry. Known as the Prince of Prints, Pucci designed slacks, shirts and dresses in vivid and startling colour combinations. Born within an aristocratic and illustrious Florentine family whose ancestors had never had to work "in a thousand years", as he once famously explained to Life magazine, Pucci's life is well worth a Visconti film. He studied, graduated and then embraced a military career as a pilot during the Mussolini period. However, after having helped a member of the Mussolini family to escape to Switzerland, Pucci was imprisoned for a while and so managed to sit out the rest of the war in Switzerland, by which time he was financially ruined.

Emilio Pucci Rug in one of his Boutiques, 1970s

He began to design commercial clothing with new fabrics for winter sports in Zermat, Switzerland in 1947. In that same year a photographer for Harper's Bazaar magazine, took pictures of the outfits that he saw during his trip. These were sent to Diana Vreeland, who alerted a Lord & Taylor buyer, who then ordered a collection. This opened the doors of the American market to his business. The next success came with a swimwear line in 1949, created in his own plant and shop on Capri, the Italian island that became the popular jet set summer vacation spot of the 1950s. Creatively he introduced a real dimension of pleasure and libertine fashion, using silky materials and magnificent and personal coloured compositions. In 1966 he launched a perfume, Vivara created for his three year old daughter and promoted by the French film star Catherine Deneuve. He was one of the first to create a haute couture line of underwear in the United States. In the 1960s he continued to embrace new fields in design, ranging from the airline uniform market to the design of the official Apollo 15 logo.

It was during the end of this period that he conceived a line of carpets inspired by his collection of prints. Surprisingly the collection, containing about twelve models, was manufactured by an Argentinean company Dandolo & Primi in 1968-1970. It was based on a combination of five colour schemes: Hearth, Ice, Sun, Night and Rose tones. Before being shown in western markets, mainly Italian and American, the collection was exhibited in the Buenos Aires Museum of Decorative Arts in 1970, which produced the catalogue: Alfombras Argentinas de Emilio Pucci, Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo, 1970. Through our research we have not been able to identify any other publication that presented the complete collection. The models bore names like Vivara and Lamborghini and presented a unique collection of colourful rugs in sweet and vivid colours, featuring elegant and fluid lines. The rugs were tufted and available in different sizes and shapes, both square and rectangular, and in a limited quantity of fifteen per model. They bear the signature Emilio set within the pile, which sometimes appears several times.

Pucci used his carpets for the decoration of his shops and also his Florentine palace, which was his family home. The innovation introduced by Pucci within carpet design was purely formal and artistic in both composition and colour palette. This explains why they were described as floor paintings in wool. We can only regret that the life that inhabited his garments was not expressed nearly as successfully through his carpet designs, perhaps due to either the use of new fibres or the unexpected shapes or sizes produced.

After this collection a reissue of several models in larger sizes and an industrial collection bearing the Pucci name seems to have been created. The lack of information prevents us from giving any further details. We have been able to trace less than fifteen carpets that have appeared on the market at various auctions.

News and Auctions

1)December 10 2009, Netherhampton Salerooms, UK: 1540 rug entitled Cercle by DIM; 1573 The Rose pattern C. F. A. Voysey.

2)December 12 2009, De Vuyst, Lokeren, Belgium: two rugs from Corneille.

3)December 16 2009, Christies, London: pile tapestry by Victor Pasmore.

4)December 16 2009, Sotheby, New York: two Donnemara carpets by C. F. A. Voysey; anon European carpet; an Austrian Secession carpet.

5)December 16 2009, Pierre Berge, Paris: two rugs by Ivan da Silva Bruhns and Emiel Veranneman.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

An Example of Ruhlmann's Style: The c1932 Dubly Drawing Room with a Sourzac Round Carpet. Part 3 of 3

2009-12-06T21:39:00.003Z

The c1932 Dubly Drawing Room with a Sourzac Round Carpet, Deco d'Aujourd'hui, Dec-Feb 1934. The Carpet Index Library

After 1927 Leon Dubly became an important customer for Ruhlmann who designed his apartment. Certain models of furniture, chairs and tables, are identified with his name. When Ruhlmann undertook the decoration of the drawing room, he was no longer in his 'aristocratic' period, one that had been much criticised. The overall result was of a much more delicate and elegant feel. The work produced in order to obtain this result was always impressive, as we will demonstrate.

The Basic Drawing Room Characteristics

As you can see in the illustration shown above, the room presented a high ceiling and an imperfect square shape. All the light derived from large windows that are not visible in the illustration, but were on the right hand side of the room. The first objective was to avoid the room having a 'box' feeling and to avoid anyone noticing the two entering angles on the left hand side, this breaks up the view when entering the room. Ruhlmann visually reduced the height of the ceiling by installing a wooden frame directly onto the walls. In using a large width for the vertical pilasters, in opposition to the thinner horizontal bands, he created a perspective and a visible architecture in the room that focused attention. If you look closely you will notice that the first pilaster covered the first angle on the left hand side, while the second the fourth. The pilasters were made of palissandre from India, one of the favourite woods used by Ruhlmann. They were devoid of decoration and were finished above in a delicate golden frieze. The latter easily resonated with the bronze work of the furniture, mirror frame and lights. To give unity to all the remaining walls, he used a clear blue silky upholstered tapestry forming a network of lozenges, in opposition to the massive straight pilasters. As a result the eye quickly forgot the angles and was smoothly invited to embrace the bright room space.

The Furniture

The selected furniture was reduced and placed in order to valorise their shapes and selected materials. The colour recalled that of the palissandre. It was centred along the walls and one forgot the corners. The legs of the furniture had bronze endings, which reinforced the feeling of lightness and separated the different visual levels: the floor from the furniture and the walls. A medium round table stood in the middle of the room, which meant that it was very easy to circulate in the room. From the furniture we can understand the function of the room; it is not the main drawing room, but that of a more private 'antechamber' or boudoir, to receive visitors or to ask them to wait in a pleasant surrounding.

The Carpet of Denise Sourzac

We have not found any information regarding Denise Sourzac, we only know that Ruhlmann regularly collaborated with Rene Sourzac on certain projects. She might well have been his sister, wife or daughter, which shows the familiar spirit of the company. Here Ruhlmann chose a very large circular carpet, about 3.5-4 meters in diameter (11-13 feet), to unify the room and to cover the walking zones. The circular shape echoed the mirror, the table top and the square initial volume of the room without creating a 'box' effect. In order to mix the different volumes, the carpet ran slightly under the secretaire. This also offered some comfort to the person sitting and preserved the plain carpet below from over usage.

This model was first presented in 1928 in the SAD exhibition (The box of the actress Jacqueline Francell), then in 1930 with a different background colour, In The Carpet Index Files we have photos of Dubly's furniture taken with this latter rug. We estimate that Ruhlmann leant the carpet to the customer while the final one was being woven. In fact the carpet from the illustration presents slight differences that show how Ruhlmann was attentive to all the details:

1)The centre of the rug was not symbolized by four concentric circles as in the other rugs, so the composition was much lighter and more dynamic, thus the radiating effect was reinforced. The eye was not stopped by the centre. The plain circle also revealed the shape of the table legs.

2)The border was composed of successive points orientated towards the centre. In the other rugs that was not the case, the design of the point was composed of three triangles in different colours and they were orientated towards the selvedge. The eye was conducted to remain in the centre of the room. The selvedge had been simplified and there was no relief effect or long fringes. This was done in order to overly attract attention.

3)The number of colours was reduced to two instead of at least three.

4)The radiating background contained two concentric thin circles which were very discreet because Ruhlmann did not use a dark colour. This was intriguing for the eye because the lines of the rug were 'incomplete', as if it was a mistake. It is very noticeable that the horizontal network of lozenges echoed the tapestry and broke the regularity of the linear quality of the room. The carpet was less 'perfect' that the rest of the furnishings and giving lightness to the massive rug which weighed about 40-50 kilos.

This example really illustrates how Ruhlmann liked to manipulate opposite concepts in a decorative scheme, dark and light zones, straight and circular lines, static and dynamic compositions, plain and designed surfaces, cold and warm colours. For these reasons there is a tension that is in fact transformed and then forgotten by the magic effect of the final result: a very delicate and elegant solution.

For Ruhlmann the decoration of the furniture and carpet served several functions: to integrate all of the furniture and wall coverings in one space; to guide the eye to focus on the major characters of the furniture piece; and to give a personality to the object.

Now you understand why it is necessary to consider the environment of the rugs created by skilled decorators. When the rugs are presented alone, as in the majority of cases when appearing in auction, there is a huge loss of information. The carpet remains flat and isolated and the keys to decode its design are no longer available. The purpose of this blog is to reveal these aspects and to transmit them to the next generation, a task that no longer seems to be taught in contemporary design schools which focus on concepts, technology and functionalities.

Bibliography

Ruhlmann - Genius of Art Deco, E. Breon & R. Pepall eds., 2004.

Ruhlmann - Genie de l'Art Deco, E. Breon & R. Pepall eds., 2002. French first edition.

Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann Architecture d'Interieur, 2 vols, Flammarion, 2004.

News & Auctions

1)December 6 2009: LAMA, Los Angeles: a Jack Lenor Larsen carpet and a round American Modern Starburst rug.

2)December 8 2009: Christie's New York: several interesting rugs from Marion Dorn lot 354; Edward McKnight Kauffer lot 367; Bart van der Leck by Metz & Co, lot 383; attrb. Jules Leleu, lot 347; Vivienne Weastwood lot 479; and a Berta Senestrey flatweave, lot 368.

3)December 8 2009: Wright, Chicago: rugs by Herbert Bayer, Frank Stella and Davis Shaw Nichols.

4)December 9 2009: Sotheby's Paris: painting on a rug by Mai-Thu Perret.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann's Carpets and Rugs, Design and Designers: Henry Stephany, Maurice Picaud, Emile Gaudissard, Leon Voguet and Denise Sourzac. Part 2 of 3

2009-11-29T18:51:00.005Z

I will now answer some basic questions that will help you to understand Ruhlmann's works and methods. It will hopefully spare you a lot of time and energy in reading and searching, and hopefully you will enjoy and appreciate the article.

Question 1: Who designed the Ruhlmann carpets?

Ruhlmann selected a staff of designers to translate his ideas and draw all the necessary maquettes in different scales, including the final plain scale draft of the furniture and other products from the company. From the published archives we can estimate that this was also the case for the carpets. The inspiration came either from Ruhlmann's sketches, elaborated on previously, or from his collaborators depending upon the projects. For carpet design Henry Stephany and Maurice Picaud (also called Pico) were among the most talented collaborators that were mentioned in both catalogues and press articles. Others such as Porteneuve, Fontayne, Lardin and Rousseau might also have contributed, but the documents available do not mention either their names or initials. In practise, Ruhlmann had complete control over his design studio, and all decisions needed his approval. Contrary to the furniture that was usually stamped, it seems that the carpets did not carry any signature or monogram. They might well have had a label but I have never seen one or read about their existence. It seems that the carpets were woven by only one company in Aubusson: Braquenie.

Carpet designed by Stephany for Ruhlmann, NR 3056, presenting the Viennese influence, plate 46, in Tapis by Leon Moussinac, Albert Levy ed. A similar model was in the Ruhlmann's office and was sold to Mr. Nicolle

Question 2: How can we identify Ruhlmann carpets?

The furniture, when finished was stamped with the Ruhlmann signature; the carpets do not bear any logo, monogram or signature. The drawings do not bear initials or names either. We can attribute a designers name or a Ruhlmann origin through press articles, photos and exhibition catalogues. Of course we can try looking through the different archives but so far an exhaustive catalogue has not yet been produced. Rugs presented in auction invoices or certificates might joint the lot. Otherwise you will have to rely on the expertise of the seller or a specialist in order to fully identify them.

Question 3: How many carpets have been woven?

After Ruhlmann's death a collaborator was commissioned to produce and complete the classification of the archives. The documents donated to French institutions were studied and included in this project. All recent publications have benefited from that work. It appears now that the products from Ruhlmann have a new reference number, NR, instead of the previous AN. For the carpets, their number begins with 3XXX. The Carpet Index database has about 25 carpets identified by their number, from NR 3001 to NR 3205. We also have about the same number without a reference attribution, which makes a total of about 50. We have estimated that the Ruhlmann company produced at least 200 models (the sketches are not included), but at present I am not able to estimate how many were actually woven because Ruhlmann worked like a tailor and did not hesitate to personalise each order, as I will describe in the next post. Each model could have a combination of different colour choices and sizes, as well as some slight changes in the composition. As a result the rug sales seem to have been important, but have definitely been underestimated by a number of different art historians.

Question 4: Which Ruhlmann rugs were famous?

The most famous carpets were presented in several exhibitions, the most important being the ones that took place in Paris:

1)1925, the International Decorative Art Exhibition: carpets designed by Gaudissart and Voguet NR 3175 for the Pavillon du Collectionneur, respectively for the dining room, large drawing room and for the Ambassade Francaise, the Stephany NR 3107.

2)1926, SAD, The collector's office, a carpet by Fontayne called Mouvement Perpetuel, NR 3057.

3)1927, carpet for the Tea Room of the liner Ile de France, NR 3015, AR 2512.

4)1928, SAD, La Chambre d'Apparat, the Pomp Room, carpet by Stephany, NR 3180.

5)1929, SAD, L'appartement d'un Prince Heritier des Indes du Prince a la Cite Universitaire, one sample is exhibited at the Chateau Gourdon Museum, France.

6)1930, SAD, the box of the actress Jacqueline Francel, carpet by Denise Sourzac.

7)1932, SAD, Rendez-vous des Chasseurs de Truites, two carpets by Sourzac and Picaud, NR 3058.

One must not forget that Eileen Gray, who also produced very expensive furniture for a selected international clientele, survived thanks to the rug sales in the 1920s. I hope to have demonstrated that carpet deserves to be considered as being on the same level as any other piece of furniture. It is time to end the habit of using the name of the artist in order to sell their rugs and to ignore the latter productions in referenced biographies for their unclear reasoning.

The context has been established. In the next post I will try, through the use of an example, to express the excellent choices Ruhlmann made in both decoration and carpet design and to convince you, if you still have any remaining doubts as to his genius.

News and Auctions
1)November 26 2009, Christie's, Paris, lot 30: a round carpet from Ruhlmann (part 2/2). The result was below the estimate. On December 5 2000, a large round carpet with a similar background but much wider (4m diameter), was presented in Paris by the auction house Le Mouel & Le Mouel, lot 82. The result was among the highest obtained for an Art Deco rug (2 215 280 FF, over 300 000 euros, premium included), but there is an explanation as to the high auction price, the rug was part of Ruhlmann's private furniture collection.

2)December 7 2009, Piasa, Paris: three rugs from modern artists on sale: Statmos Theodorus, Andy Warhol (Flowers) and Mark Rothko.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann's Carpets: Biographical Notes and Basic Concepts in Rug Design. Part 1 of 3

2009-11-26T22:27:00.001Z

I had not planned to write about Ruhlmann's carpets in 2009, but the publication of an important book of over 500 pages on this major personality of the Art Deco period has provoked a reaction from this rug documentalist. In Ruhlmann by Florence Camard, published by Monelle Hayot, ISBN 978-2-903824-66-2 (sold for about 130 euros), the author has portrayed Ruhlmann's life and productions on a chronological basis. Carpets are illustrated intermittently, but like many biographies of designers, there is no specific chapter on carpet and rug design, nor are there any extra notes devoted to the subject at the end of the book. For other interior products that were produced by the Ruhlmann company such as general textiles and wallpapers, the situation is similar. As would be expected with a biography of Ruhlmann, furniture takes a privileged position in the book. Unfortunately, the absence of any index reduces the usefulness of this massive publication for research and documentary purposes, but perhaps the book should be seen as a good introduction to the work of Ruhlmann, rather than as a detailed reference guide.

An exhaustive reference catalogue still remains to be written of the Ruhlmann archives available in the French National Library, BNF Departement des Estampes Paris, and the museums: Musee des Arts Decoratifs Cabinets des Dessins, Paris, Musee des Anees Trente, Boulogne-Billancourt and the Institute of Architecture, Paris still remains to be written. Meanwhile I will provide some complimentary information in three articles starting with this one.

Ruhlmann's Boudoir from the Hotel d'un Collectionneur for the 1925 Paris International Exhibition, plate no.2, Interieurs en Couleurs, Leon Deshairs, Albert Levy ed., 1925. The Carpet Index

Library

To present Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann (1879-November 1933) as a major cabinet-maker, the Art Deco Riesener, is of course correct, but technically he never actually produced any furniture himself. Another point is that by concentrating on the furniture output from Ruhlmanns' company, it can prevent us from appreciating his talent as an Architecte Decorateur (Architect Designer), a term he used to describe himself and one that is really an appropriate one to describe his work methods.

In the three posts dedicated to Ruhlmann I will consider the carpets produced by his company, even if there was no actual weaving workshop for textiles or rugs connected to the company. Like many other designers' studios, the company sold carpets from other independent artists such as Ivan da Silva Bruhns, Leon Voguet and Emile Gaudissard, some of whom were registered with a reference number. However, the majority of the carpets sold by the company were in fact conceived by the Ruhlmann design staff and studio.

Biographical Notes

1879 Birth in Paris.

1900 First drawings produced during military service.

1901 Works in his Father's company that dealt with house-painting, wallpaper and the manufacture of mirrors.

1907 Marriage. After his Father's death, starts to manage the family firm.

1911 First participation in the SAD, Salon des Artistes Decorateurs.

1912 First office established at 27 rue de Lisbonne.

1919 New association with a partner and founding of the Etablissement Ruhlmann & Laurent that allows him to concentrate on his decoration business.

1923 First workshop at the rue d'Ouessant. Purchase by the MET of furniture.

1925 International recognition during the Exhibition for the Pavillon du Collectionneur.

1927 Second workshop.

1932 The company is affected by the economic situation.

1933 Death of Ruhlmann. Laurent continues the painting business. Alfred Porteneuve, Ruhlmann's nephew, in charge of the closure of the decoration department.

Ruhlmann never officially studied art or design. He began by drawing intensively after 1900, and learned progressively from the partners of the Faubourg Saint Antoine who started producing his furniture before 1923. He established his own very high standards in order to try to perpetuate the excellence in cabinet-making that had been achieved in the Golden century. Before the 1920s his decoration business did not show a profit and was indeed visibly unprofitable, it was the other more commercial activities that sponsored the artistic projects. Ruhlmann was talented enough to have accumulated many occupations including that of: sketcher, designer, cabinet maker, architect and manager. As a visionary he always wanted the best and accepted that he had to pay the price for that stand, even if it meant losing money. Therefore he could be very demanding towards both collaborators and suppliers and insisted on controlling all of the details.

Ruhlmann could of course produce furniture in his own right, but he excelled in finding the right proportions between the furniture and the space that it was intended for. To achieve the objective of an elegant and seemingly effortless balance, he was ready to question all aspects of composition, colour and shape. He refused to apply systematic rules and looked for innovative solutions, even if they were not necessarily immediately noticeable at first sight. Each project was unique.

This was also true for his carpets. For him the rug was a total experience, including all aspects of the carpet from fringe, to selvedge, to pile, all were considered equal parts of the same object and the decorator had to play with each element in order to achieve the decorative aim. This is also true when considering the inner composition of the floor covering. Ruhlmann clearly refused to follow the traditional oriental models of composition and preferred rugs with all over designs and with thin or even nonexistent borders. He had a special attachment for round concentric rugs that were very complicated to compose and weave. He was very attentive to the nature of the material used for the pile and had a preference for very silky wool (mohair or merinos?), that once felt cannot be forgotten. These requirements were also true for the dye. Black for example, which seems a fairly basic standard colour to use, worked spectacularly well on a Ruhlmann carpet. The obsession with all the details makes these carpets unique and impossible to reproduce correctly through common photos.

News and Auctions

1)November 26 2009, Christie's, Paris, lot 30, a round carpet by Ruhlmann. Even if the first items of the sale belonged to Lord Rothermere's Parisian apartment, who also purchased carpets, this lot is from another origin. The carpet is composed of 15 concentric circles with different geometrical motifs, including curvilinear and broken lines. I imagine that it was inspired by Berber rectangular weavings that commonly used successive horizontal bands of geometrical motifs, but they never made a circular version. The rug has a diameter of only 250cm (98 3/8in). The knotting is coarse, about 4 to 6 Turkish knots per square cm, and they use about 6 to 7 threads of wool for the weaving of the pile, the large Ruhlmann carpets can have a lower density of knotting. The lot probably comes from Braquenie in Aubusson. I am convinced that once the pattern was transposed for the weaving it was a nightmare to weave. The weaver could not have afforded many mistakes because the concentric lines had to remain proportionate and very regular, otherwise the mistakes would be immediately perceived as it was so small in scale. It was first presented in 1925 and not 1930 as mentioned, in the showroom rue de Lisbonne, and I imagine this design had been chosen to give the firm impression of the high standards of the studio to visitors. Living in Paris I have actually seen and touched the rug, the sensation of which is of a unique combination of softness and thickness. The two brick colours are gorgeous. The carpet has been cleaned and it presents two sides like a silk carpet, due to the quality of the wool and the general good state of the piece. The estimated price of 40 to 60 000 euros might well be a little high for the present period. Do not hesitate to have a look: www.christies.com

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Present day Common Shaggy Rugs: The Ground Level of Creativity and Cultural Recognition, or How to Duplicate Scandinavian Rya Research from Ritva Puotila and Gunilla Lagerhem-Ullberg without Limits

2009-11-20T13:47:00.006Z

If you look on the internet today for any cultural information concerning shaggy rugs, you will find an overwhelming number of commercial sites that will promote the fantastic decorative possibilities of these products for your interior. In the stores, sellers might well have difficulties in answering precise questions. Globally, you will find relatively few areas of information about their origin or history. A misleading comparison with the Greek flokati is sometimes presented, but in reality the development of the shag texture in floor covering is to be found in the Scandinavian tradition and the rya weavings that became popular in the late 1950s.

French magazine advertisement for a shag rug, woven by Balsan, Maison & Jardin, 1965. The Carpet Index Library

In Finland, Norway and Sweden traditional weaving generally had a composition that entailed borders and motifs. They were intended to be used as tapestries, covers or sitting mats, but not as floor coverings. In the 1960s and 1970s Danish manufacturers began to integrate plain rya rugs into their catalogues, using rectangular and circular shapes such as Ege Rya and their Island collection. This example was very quickly followed by many others, which enabled the development of the shag into many different product lines including wall to wall carpeting. These shaggy rugs were generally woven mechanically using the Axminster technique and were either made using wool or synthetic materials such as nylon or acrylic. Their commercial success in the US and Europe for example, was visible in the Sears' catalogues and in the advertising campaigns of the manufacturers, see illustration. By the 1960s they had already been able to mix colours within the pile, the wool having been treated for protection against moths, and certain backings were also treated in order to avoid slippage.

After the 1970s, industrial production decreased rapidly but research among textile designers continued. Finnish artists such as Maija Lavonen and Ritta Makinen, were the first to consider the use of different fibres such as linen, artificial silk, or even sisal mixed with wool. In 1987 Ritva Puotila further developed this research and produced, with her company Woodnotes Oy, the following collections: Woodnotes (using paper fibre) and Aapa. For Puotila, walking on her rugs produced the feeling of walking on soft sand. Later in the 1990s, the Swedish designer Gunilla Lagerhem-Ullberg developed for the Kasthall manufacturer, new lines of rug design such as Moss, Tekka and Fogg, which can still be purchased today.

All these products offered a large variety of colours and took their inspiration from Scandinavian traditional rural culture, with its respect for nature. Today when you purchase the coloured 'new' shaggy rugs in the shops or through the Internet, all of these aspects are treated as negligible. The cheap products exported from China, India and the Middle East bear no designer's name, and not even a manufacturer is mentioned. In the best case the quality of the fibre for the pile is noted, but concerning the backing which is hidden by a glued textile, no specifications of the chemicals used are provided, neither is a description given as to how the rug was looped or tufted. With time, the backing might well dry out and then the cleaning of the rug will become impossible. In comparison, the Finnish ryas are both hand woven and knotted, and use natural dyes. As a result the product will be both long lasting and the pile will be strong and resistant.

With the cheap mass manufactured rugs the quality is ultimately sacrificed. However, it is clear that in our 'modern' world economical model, there is almost no means for a European artist to have their creativity protected from Asian or any other type of copyist. Perhaps the most difficult attitude to explain is that of the silence engendered by public authorities that seem willing to accept this state of the present market as natural, leading to the ultimate demise of any form of local European production. This situation clearly reveals that attitudes within Europe concerning the decorative arts has come to such a low level of estimation and respect towards creativity, that today the context is very much one that is not at all favourable towards any form of creative product for the floor.

The invasion of cheap rugs will, in the long term, be devastating for all concerned. It is really a short term approach to imagine that the customer will not react at all. At the present time the trend in France seems to be one whereby the customer considers the purchase of a rug as being part of a fashionable act, and therefore must not be too expensive because of the constant changes in fashion. However, if this short sighted system does not change the result might well be one where we see the disappearance of the desire to own a rug and the incapacity to identify quality when it appears because the product will have so much depreciated as a creative entity, that the dream of owning a quality rug will have gone forever. With the absence of creativity the low quality and prices may well progressively impoverish this sector and discourage any design newcomers and carpet lovers into entering the profession. To illustrate my point I recently purchased in a Parisian sale at the beginning of this year, a modern hand woven rya from Ritva Puotila produced in the 1990s, measuring 1.4m x 2m for only 200 euros! The rya is like a Rothko painting, mixing linen and wool in blue tones. For me it represents the reflecting sun on the water of the Finnish lakes.

With this article I wanted to highlight the need to protect both designers and their creations, and in order to show that there is something fundamentally wrong with our model of the world economy, something in fact that is making this field of creativity completely ineffectual. I refuse to remain inactive and want to wholeheartedly support innovation and quality, irrespective of whether it comes from either East or West, but absolutely excluding all copyists.

News and Auctions

1)November 21 2009, Damien Leclere, Marseille, France: Ivan da Silva Bruhns, lot 30 (370cm x 4025cm); Paul Follot.

2)November 23 2009, Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris: lot 10 Pupsam (David Puel and Thomas Libe) single woven by Cogolin and Corneille.

3)November 24, 2009, Dorotheum, Germany: a circular carpet, very rare, by Gabriel Englinger for Studio Aran.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The 'Ateliers d'Art': Primavera, La Maitrise, Pomone, Studium, Athelia, or the Importance of Parisian Stores Design Workshops/Studios

2009-11-15T17:43:00.002Z

When I began collecting documents on oriental carpets twenty years ago I discovered the yearly catalogues that were published by the major Parisian department stores every September. It happens that the same booklets also contained pages devoted to modern furniture and rugs. Certain objects would have had special mentions, such as creation (created by) Primavera or Studium. Today I have over a hundred of them and the scale of the quantity of objects designed by these special departments appears to be huge, revealing the role played by the big stores in popularizing the Art Deco style which was fundamental, a role that has not as yet been thoroughly researched.

To understand the strength of these commercial organisations you have to remember that they were very active regarding their own marketing. Firstly, each Parisian store had a floor devoted to the promotion of their own creations so that anyone could see them without being obliged to either enter an expensive gallery or even to purchase the articles. Secondly, the catalogues were issued in their millions throughout these years, and were available within the stores, but were also distributed as mail order catalogues throughout France, the Empire and many other countries. As every product had its own reference number, each individual piece could be ordered more or less from anywhere in the world. These stores had a high presence in Paris itself, and took part in all the major yearly decorative exhibitions such as the Salon des Artistes Decoraterurs in spring and the Salon d'Automne, but were also present at international shows for the decorative arts (Venturus, John Wanamaker in New York in 1927 and Macy's exhibition again in New York in 1929). Probably one of their most important and prestigious achievements was their participation, using their own pavilions, at the 1925 Exhibition of Decorative Art in Paris.

Rare booklet cover published by Primavera for the 1925 Exhibition. The Carpet Index Library

With the high profile given to these companies and their products, it gave the opportunity for many foreign manufacturers to copy those same products throughout the 1920s. This commercial dynamism explains why today I can find 'unattributed or anonymous rugs' in the catalogues of certain American galleries that were in fact marketed and designed by the French store workshops. Finally, there was during this period, many French and British magazines that reported regularly on their products (see August 2009 posts). All this explains why the French Art Deco products succeeded whereas in other countries modernist furniture remained limited and much less popular.

But what exactly were these workshops, and when did they begin? After the failure of the French Modern style (Art Nouveau), the German and Viennese experiences, and the resistance of the established manufacturers in making radical changes in their design work, the major distributors understood that perhaps they had a commercial opportunity in trying to sell a range of modern products that were produced in a much more limited quantity.

The first and leading store was the Grands Magasins du Printemps which created the Atelier Primavera in September 1912 with two designers. Directed by Rene Guillere, who was also President of the SAD, guidelines were established. The store would employ a staff of young designers in order to create artistic and modern objects and furniture that would be sold under a workshop store collective brand name. The choice of using anonymous models is also a reason why they have not attracted the attention of art historians. Primavera referenced all the traditional arts and crafts of France and offered new models in all objects for the home. Primavera really qualified as a workshop because besides their design work they also had their own manufacturing unit for the construction of both furniture and ceramics. The name 'Primavera' is a reference to the Italian Renaissance art period and illustrates the objectives of these stores, i.e., to produce a general renewal of the home decoration market. It is only after the First World War that other Parisian stores followed the Printemps initiative. To promote their products however, the latter had to focus on the name of the managing decorator and generally had no manufacturing plants. Nevertheless, these design studios were very productive. In 1925 for example, Primavera had created over 13 000 unique products since its beginning and could count about fifteen full time collaborators, half of whom were women.

All the major stores created a studio, even if some lasted only a few years. We can really say that fierce competition existed between then and that forced the addition of new articles every year. The result was an overflow of products, resulting in a large variety of styles being offered to customers, a situation that had no comparison with any other country.

Listed below you will find for the first time, the largest and most comprehensive listing concerning the Parisian workshops.

Store name: Le Printemps

Workshop or studio name: Primavera

Managing designer: Rene Guillere

Creation date: 1912

Store name: Les Galeries Lafayette

Workshop or studio name: La Maitrise

Managing designer: Maurice Dufrene

Creation date: 1921

Store name: Le Bon Marche

Workshop or studio name: Pomone

Managing designer: Paul Follot

Creation date: 1922

Store name: Le Louvre

Workshop or studio name: Studium

Managing designer: Etienne Kohlman

Creation date: 1923

Store name: Galeries Barbes

Workshop or studio name: Lutetia

Managing designer: Andre Evrard

Creation date: 1927

Store name: Au Bucheron

Workshop or studio name: Le Sylve

Managing designer: Michel Dufet

Creation date: 1928

Store name: Les Trois Quartiers

Workshop or studio name: Athelia

Managing designer: Robert Block

Creation date: 1929

Store name: Le Palais de la Nouveaute

Workshop or studio name: Les Beaux Metiers

Managing designer: Andre Arbus

Creation date: 1930s

Store name: La Samaritaine de Luxe

Workshop or studio name: L'Atelier d'Art

Managing designer: Jean Blasset

Creation date: 1930s

To understand the importance of these actors on the market and retail stage, we have to remember that they provided work for both manufacturers and craftsmen, and that besides their full time collaborators they could also ask for assistance from other artists as well. If you add to this number the galleries and studios of other designers, you can well imagine that Paris at this particular moment in time was the world centre for the decorative arts, due mostly to the quantity and quality of the artists that were available. This powerful centralised organisation of French Art Deco contributors has nothing to do with today's world economic model, but it is certainly one of the main reasons that the movement is still present in our memories.

From this list of nine names only the first four were really successful. After the Second World War only Primavera and La Maitrise remained and were able to adapt their activities to suit the changes in the market. Today Primavera bears little resemblance to the original company and the achievements that that company produced in the past.

Why is it important to debate the issue of these workshops in a blog regarding twentieth century rug design? For the simple reasonj that during the 1920s these workshops produced some of the most creative, innovative and well designed rugs, a number of which we will present in future articles. Today, because of the work of that design period, no one could conceive of a modern decorative scheme without a carpet.

To be fair, not all of the companies offered rugs in their catalogues, but for the leaders in the field the sales impact was representative. For example, in a 1928 issue of the British magazine The Studio, an article devoted to La Maitrise reported that in 1927 more than two thirds of the total of carpets sold, apart from oriental products, were modern carpets. In the 1930s their influence in rug design was reduced because of the trend for simpler geometrical compositions woven in North Africa, namely Algeria and Morocco. The 1929 Crash and the creation of the UAM (Union des Artistes Modernes), a new organisation of designers which promoted a much more radical and non-decorative approach to design, changed the market trend. As a consequence, the more traditional and expensive French creations had difficulty in competing in the market place.

In a future post we will comment on the rug design activities of the major workshops.

News and Auctions

1)November 11 2009, Bonhams London: lot 133, Marion Dorn and a Morris & Co carpet for the Holland Park residence.

2)November 12 2009, Camard Paris: Bearskin by Moorer Eelko.

3)November 15 2009, Koller Geneva: Paul Klee and Andy Warhol (new re-edition 2008).

4)November 17-20 2009, Christie's Paris: second Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge sale: some oriental carpets (Khotan, Agra, Kazak) and three European rugs: a round one by Paule Leleu; an original and rare rug by Yvonne Fourgeaud, possibly produced by A La Place Clichy; a very nice piece from C F AS Voysey, featuring the Lisburn design.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The German Reference Artist for Tufted Art Tapestries and Carpets: Ewald Kroner

2009-10-26T12:17:00.002Z

In previous posts we have already given tribute to both Marie Cuttoli and Charles Slatkin, but it would be remiss of us not to mention the contribution played by Ewald Kroner in Germany. For several decades since the 1960s he has promoted artistic tapestries. Kroner included a number of complementary activities within his remit, such as editor, manufacturer and weaver, but was also able to include that of distributor and designer as well.

After having studied interior architecture, he worked in England, travelled in both Sweden and Finland and then decided to create his own company in 1964. He began by weaving in his own workshop and home. In the 1970s he purchased a 'castle' and transferred his manufacturing to the Schloss Hackhausen. His business succeeded despite the impact of the 1973 oil crisis. He managed his main showroom in Karlsruhe/Dusseldorf and also seems to have had galleries in both Munich and Zurich. His first major event was his participation in the German Pavilion at the 1970 Osaka Expo. Since then his work has been regularly shown in nominative exhibitions of artists, or more institutional events such as for the Deutsche Bank, or even more recently for UBS Lucarno in February 2009. A retrospective show was organised in September 2006.

Ewald Kroner's own production from the 1980s. Image from Ebay 2008

Ewald Kroner was a real technician and an artist in creative weaving. He was a keen supporter of quality and was always ready to challenge the limits of the materials and techniques he used. He employed a number of different fibres in his work, such as New Zealand wool, natural silk and metallic threads. His work could either be tufted or hand knotted, piled or looped. Like Marie Cuttoli, even if he were to produce a majority of piled works, they were intended to be seen as wall hangings rather than carpets for the floor.

The company offered a wide range of possibilities to customers, but for our purposes it is his work in limited edition art tapestries that we wish to focus on. The list of artists produced by Kroner is impressive. The Carpet Index has referenced the following artists: Bauer, Chagall, Claisse, Geiger, Hajek, Herbin, Hundertwasser, Kandinsky, Klimt, Miro, Mondrian, Picasso, Rothko, Vasarely, Warhol, with a special mention for Herbert Bayer who was one of Kroner's favourites and whose work he collected. In this activity it seems that Kroner as a gallerist also distributed tapestries woven by others like Galerie Cuttoli-Lucie Weil (Arp, Picasso), Paris, or Modern Master Tapestries, New York. This might explain certain descriptions or attributions found in auction catalogues which mention Kroner instead of the original maker.

Ewald Kroner also wove his own designs. In the 1980s he developed a complete collection of small and medium pieces that was both original and of a uniquely high standard in the quality of composition. The image shown above illustrates how he managed to create a real personality to this type of tufted weaving that until now has not really caught the attention of the majority of the public. His work expresses the European abstract search for its forgotten tribal roots. Kroner took as his inspiration Arabic and Native American crafts and fantasy. The compositions are complex and the mixture of all the yarn techniques helped to create vivid, exuberant and radiant 'woolen totems', a real contrast with the technically led design creativity of today.

The success of Kroner is validated by the fact that his tapestries have become part of art collections and can be seen in museums (Moon and Structures in the Kirkland Museum, USA), or were purchased by institutions like the tapestry for the foyer of the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1972, the latter has since been moved to Berlin in 1999.

The information gathered, with difficulty, by The Carpet Index clearly shows the major innovative influence of Ewald Kroner and the role he has played as the 'father' of so many German tapestry weavers. His work during the second half of the twentieth century deserves more promotion and wide scale publication, especially when you consider the prices achieved by some of his tapestries on German Ebay in 2008: several hundred euros for a five square metre piece. In comparison they were sold for 3000 Deutsch Marks per square metre in the 1990s. The road to recognition is complicated, this post was our contribution.

News and Auctions

1)October 27 2009, Christie's London. Special mention for two Zaha Hadid carpets. Clearly one of the leading contemporary designers and architects. The carpets date from 2008. This clearly shows the evolution of the market because one could certainly expect these rugs to be sold in design galleries. In the same sale lots are works by Kybal, Tejo Remy & Rene Veenhuizen and Loja & Eliel Saarinen (attr.).

2)October 27 2009, Sotheby's, London. A carpet by the Belgian Studio de Saedeleer.

3)October 27 2009, Massol, Paris. A Lucien Rollin Aubusson.

4)October 28 2009, Jerom Derem. An exceptionally large carpet 14.7m x 3.96m by Jean Lurcat and Camille Hilaire, woven in the 1960s for the COOP Head Offices. Estimated price 22-24 000 Euros.

5)October 27-30 2009, Bukowskis, Sweden. Marta Maas-Fjetterstrom, Barbro Nilssen, Victor Vasarely, and ryas by Ulla Schumacher-Percy, Kirsti Ilvessalo.

6)October 29 2009, Christie's. Two Maringold rugs after Picasso's paintings.

7)October 29 2009, Kahn-Dumousset, Paris. Eileen Gray (reed.), Leleu, Giacometti.

8)October 30 2009, Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris. Keith Haring, Maurits Cornelis Escher.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The Making of the Article Published in the Art Newspaper, October Edition 2009, Entitled 'Bacon Early Rugs'

2009-10-16T13:31:00.001+01:00

In the post that was removed on May 4 2009, The Carpet Index established a relationship between two newly discovered English rugs signed Francis Bacon and a French rug, see illustration, signed by Ivan da Silva Bruhns, the major Art Deco carpet designer. In the text a detailed structural analysis and a study of Bacon's style was required in order to explain this unexpected coincidence. This initiative was followed by an exchange of information with Clive Rogers, an English orientalist with an interest in modernist rugs who had a shared interest in the same puzzling questions. After the removal of our respective texts on each of our web sites, which had initially been produced in complete ignorance of each others activities, The Carpet Index was offered a chance of collaborating with the writing of an article on the subject of Bacon's rugs, by Clive Rogers. I accepted and the research has been conducted during the summer by the two of us in our free time and at our own expense.

The clear and shared objective was to collect the maximum amount of information in order to answer three major questions:

1) What rugs had Francis Bacon designed during his London Kensington interior design period which corresponded to the end of the 1920s and beginning of the 1930s?

2) Which individual or manufacturer was responsible for the weaving of the rugs?

3) What was to be made of the two Francis Bacon rugs discovered in 2008 and a third unsigned rug of identical type discovered in 2009?

Da Silva Bruhns rug, 280cm x 135cm, with the agreement of Claude Boisgirard Auction House, Paris, Copyright

We both worked fairly intensively and with a complementary approach, throughout the summer. From France I supported Clive's research by using the extensive documentation of The Carpet Index and other Parisian libraries: Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Bibliotheque Forney, Bibliotheque Kandinsky, Bibliotheque Mitterand. Meanwhile in England Clive Rogers researched all of the rugs known to have been designed by Bacon, in the Royal Wilton Carpet Factory archive, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Tate Gallery, Guildford Cathedral and two medieval London companies as well as other specialists. He was informed by Wilton and others that the archives had been destroyed but was lucky enough to discover parts of it still extant at the Wiltshire Historical Centre in Chippenham, Wiltshire. He was also able to confirm that their Wessex quality corresponded to the hand knotted rugs used by designers like Edward McKnight Kauffer, Marion Dorn and Bacon. (Any additional documentation on Wessex is always welcome). Clive Rogers also undertook some revealing investigations in Ireland including that of the manufacturers in Co. Donegal and Co. Kildare.

This combined effort has allowed us to piece together how Francis Bacon spent his 'early years' in Berlin, Paris and London, and how he might have conceivably made particular choices towards the design of carpets, furniture, lighting and indeed his first paintings. From various photos, paintings and records we have been able to increase the identification tally of rugs designed by Bacon, to eleven. To this figure possibly two more rugs can be added, although they cannot be positively identified as being Bacon's design work. Until now the best publications were only able to identify six or seven rugs.

Concerning the second question, Clive has been able to compare the Royal Wilton Carpet Factory, using the collections of the V&A and Tate museums. He also discovered a new rug with the same design, colour and size as the two other green rugs signed Francis Bacon, but without a signature or monogram. In our second post we assumed, due to the information that was available at the time, that the 2008/9 signed Bacon rugs were originals. Due to new information that appeared during our research our statement has to be updated. The revised information will emerge in an article in the October issue of The Art Newspaper (London) and in more depth in another article in the December edition of Hali Magazine.

To be completely fair, the da Silva Bruhns rug was also studied and the different auction houses were contacted for more information or illustrations without success, (Sotheby Monaco, April 23 1989, lot 677; Maitre Claude Boisgirard, Paris, March 29 1990, lot 225 and Sotheby Monaco, December 11 1995, lot 141). We recall that this rug did not correspond to the different major styles of this designer, and we have not managed to find other rugs with a familiar composition. Even if the rug was signed, the lack of concrete elements obliges us to remain cautious with this attribution as well.

To finish this post I would just like to say that we have used the internet intensively for the search of information and Google Docs to pool the results of our respective works. It was only in September that we began exchanging opinions on the phone.

This collaboration was a very pleasant and rewarding experience and I want to thank Clive Rogers for the opportunity that he has given The Carpet Index by enabling it to be associated with this project.

All our efforts have clearly demonstrated that documentation on twentieth century carpet designers and artists is often fraught with numerous practical difficulties. If more research is not undertaken soon we can assume that an important part of the European decorative legacy will not only be forgotten, but perhaps lost altogether.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha and Clive Rogers

News and Auctions

1)A white laminated stool by Francis Bacon will be on sale at Christies London, sale 7759, October 27 2009, lot 41.

2)A small exhibition, without catalogue, on the early design years of Francis Bacon will take place in the Tate Britain during the present trimester. For the first time three Bacon rugs will be presented, one signed F.B. is exclusive.

3)Quittenbaum, Germany, will sell a small Art Nouveau rug by Boutet de Monvel and signed BM, October 20 2009, lot 86320.

4)Von Zezschnitz, Germany, October 22 2009, will auction a flat woven tapestry from the Bauhaus, lot 441, 149cm x 77.5cm.

5)Piasa, Paris, France, in its Art Contemporain sale, October 23 2009, will offer rugs by: Robert Motherwell, Auguste Herbin, Alexander Calder, Miro, Corneille (3 lots), Robert Indiana (4 lots), Richard Lindner, Herbert Bayer, Genevieve Claisse, Eduardo Arroyo and Gerhard Richter.

6)Rago, USA, in their October 24-25 2009 sale will present a carpet by David Shaw Nicholls (lot 630) and a carpet by the Stark Company (lot 56).

The Carpet Index Post Guide

2009-10-12T11:13:00.000+01:00

A LA PLACE CLICHY-----July 16 2009
ART SURFACE-----June 19 2009
ARTCURIAL-----September 8 2009
Francis BACON-----May 4 2009 (Removed); June 24 2009; July 30 2009
Ernest BOICEAU-----February 9 2009
Alexander CALDER-----April 17 2009
Joseph CSAKY-----April 19 2009
Marie CUTTOLI-----April 17 2009; June 13 2009
Jacques DAMASE-----September 8 2009
Sonia DELAUNAY-----September 8 2009
Deutsche Werkstatte fur Handwerkskunst-----October 10 2009
Jacques DOUCET-----April 21 2009
EGE-----May 30 2009; August 12 2009
Paul FOLLOT-----May 10 2009
Eugene GRASSET-----July 16 2009
Robert INDIANA-----July 20 2009
LES ECHOS D'ART-----August 5 2009
Roy LICHTENSTEIN-----June 19 2009
Jean LURCAT-----April 21 2009; April 19 2009
Louis MARCOUSSIS-----Apriil 21 2009
Mathieu MATEGOT-----May 26 2009
Myrbor-----June 13 2009
OMEGA WORKSHOPS LIMITED-----September 29 2009; October 4 2009
Verner PANTON-----May 30 2009
Pablo PICASSO-----June 13 2009
Serge POLIAKOFF-----April 16 2009
Alfred PORTENEUVE-----September 24 2009
Emile-Jacques RUHLMANN-----May 10 2009; September 24 2009
Yves SAINT LAURENT-----February 9 2009
Ivan da SILVA BRUHNS-----May 4 2009; February 9 2009; June 24 2009; July 30 2009
Charles E SLATKIN-----April 17 2009; July 20 2009
Societe des Artistes Decorateurs or S.A.D-----October 10 2009
THE STUDIO MAGAZINE-----August 29 2009
UNIKA VAEV-----May 30 2009
Victor VASARELY-----May 30 2009

When was the Starting Point of the French Art Deco Style: The Salon d'Automne - Munich Decorative Art Exhibition of 1910 in Paris

2009-10-10T14:33:00.003+01:00

In 1909 the closure of the Parisian Art Nouveau store, also called La Maison Bing, which was the reference store for the French Modern style, was a sign of the end of this movement which began earlier in 1895 with the opening of the store by Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), a German who arrived in France in 1854 to work for the family business. Nevertheless, some French decorators had already anticipated this evolution and had been aware of changes in style in other areas of Europe, particularly in Austria and Germany. Victor Prouve, president of the Nancy School, the major regional Art Nouveau group, had already contacted the Munich designers' association, Deutsche Werkstatten fur Handwerkskunst in 1908. He then worked to establish exchanges between the Parisian Societe des Artistes Decorateurs (S.A.D) despite the complex political relations between the two countries after the 1870 war and the subsequent French loss of Alsace Lorraine. This attitude was courageous as he was often confronted by the strong belief among politicians and professionals that French design had nothing to learn and that it was still the world leader in the decorative arts.

Drawing room by Paul Wenz, Salon d'Automne 1910, L'Art Decoratif Magazine, 2nd semester

The negotiations succeeded in organizing a joint exhibition in 1910 during the Salon d'Automne in Paris. In a separate part of the building the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs de Munich (Munch Decorative Art Exhibition) took place. It consisted of seven rooms, each being decorated by a different designer, as follows:

1) Reception room by Theodore Veil; carpet by Anton Poessenbacher Haus

2) Library by Paul Ludwig Troost; carpet by Smyrne Carpet mills

3) Dining room by Adelbert Niemeyer; carpet by Deutsche Werkstatten fur Handwerkskunst (D.W.H)

4) Collective rooms; carpet by A Niemeyer, Richard Riemerschmied for D.W.H

5) Boudoir by Otto Baur; carpet by D.W.H

6) Drawing room by Paul Wenz; carpet by D.W.H

7) Music room by Emmanuel von Seidl; two hand knotted rugs by Ms. Emmy Siegfried exhibited by Hahn & Bach

The result of the exhibition clearly shows that German design was competitive and that France was loosing ground and needed to react if it wanted to remain in the race for modernism. The expected changes were not only in the form or the style; they also needed to integrate theory and teaching methods. This event contributed to the creation of the Martine Atelier by Poiret in 1911 or of Primavera, the first department store workshop of the Grands Magasins du Printemps in 1912, by Rene Guillere, who was also the founding member and President of the S.A.D. But the major fact was that the idea of a bigger and more international exhibition was thought possible and would also prove to be profitable for all. World War I however, prevented this event from taking place, but the project did become a reality in 1925 with the Parisian International Decorative Art Exhibition.

In carpet design eastern influence could be found in the floral styles and the geometrical border patterns that could be found in rugs woven in the 1920s.

With this article I wanted to bring attention to the fact that the prevailing explosion of the Art Deco style in Europe and the leading role that France played in the movement was, in the beginning at least, not that of a leading one and that many of the newer concepts were in fact imported from Germany and Austria, with a particular emphasis on the Wiener Werkstatte.

News and Auctions
1)The Aubusson Tapestry has been registered by Unesco as belonging to their cultural world patrimony.
2)On October 14, Wooley & Wallis, UK, will have on sale (lot 1152), two rugs by S. Doene and (lot 1178) a carpet by Frank Brangwyn.
3)Three projects of carpets by Ivan da Silva Bruhns will be auctioned by Aguttes, Lyon, France, October 15, (lots 895, 897 & 898), the other lots come from the last home of the artist in Antibes, France, they include paintings (rare) and gouaches, (lots 889-907).
4)October 19, Artcurial, Paris, will have on sale a collection of signed rugs by Alessandro Mendini, Thomas Tramp, Pierre Cardin, Maison Diurne, Marta Maas-Fjetterstrom, Barbro Peerson, Gumilla Lagerhem-Ullbery.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Omega Workshops Limited Carpets: Designers and Inventory. Part 2

2009-10-04T13:09:00.002+01:00

After a general presentation of the Omega Workshops Limited in the previous post, we will now focus on their carpets. This category of product was very soon integrated into the catalogue of the company and was displayed at their first Ideal Home Exhibition of 1913. After the clearance sale of the Omega stock in July 1919, carpets could still be obtained by order from Roger Fry at 7 Dalmeny Avenue. Like the Wiener Werkstatte, Omega sold both loom and hand-woven carpets. The different qualities and prices were presented in the Omega Descriptive Catalogue of 1914, but no designer's names were mentioned which was part of the policy of the group. Today we can identify some of the artists involved in carpet design after the preparatory drawings and gouaches collected in the Victoria and Albert Museum which has about thirteen examples, and in the Courtauld Gallery which has about thirty (www.artandarchitecture.org.uk), some have either signatures or monograms. The artists involved in this activity are by order of importance Duncan Grant (1885-1978), Frederick Etchells (1886-1973), Roger Fry (1866-1934), Vanessa Bell (1879-1961) and Winifred Gill. They designed either loom or hand-woven carpets.

Rug by F. Etchells exhibited at the Ideal Home Exhibition 1913 (see also Chelsea School of Art rug, or on www.flickr.com), 1914 Omega Workshops Descriptive Catalogue. The Carpet Index Library.

The loom rugs of Omega were sold as 'Super Wilton' quality. Whether or not they were manufactured by the Royal Wilton Carpet Factory is not confirmed as this designation could just refer to a type of technique of production. In the catalogue of 1914 the Mechtilde pattern with a dark background and border to be used as a stair carpet, 27 inches wide, is illustrated. This design was also used for linens and fabrics. How important the collaboration and the manufactured production was, is impossible to evaluate, due to the lack of archives and samples.

The hand-woven carpets are more difficult to evaluate. Susan Day in her book states that the first knotted carpets were made in France because the British industry was not interested in producing them. This is also evoked in the Courtauld exhibition catalogue, but has not yet been proven. What is certain is that the Omega Workshops produced many hooked rugs on canvas. This technique had the advantage of making the supply of orders flexible and they did not require a particularly large investment. However, the rugs are less resistant to wear. It is probably due to this last reason that so few carpets of this period exist today.

The Carpet Index documentation enables us to identify the following carpets and their location.

The Victoria and Albert Museum have two examples, (www.vam.ac.uk):

1) Ideal Home model 1, attributed to Duncan Grant, 226cm x 276cm, T.192-1958

2) Lady Hamilton model, attributed to Vanessa Bell, 190cm x 90cm, CIRC.660.1962. (There is another unit in another collection where the Omega sign is visible in a corner without a frame).

The Courtauld Gallery have one example:

3) Ideal Home model 1, attributed to Duncan Grant, 170cm x 221cm, T.1958.PD.267

The Chelsea School of Art have one example:

4) Ideal Home model 2 in blue, attributed to Frederick Etchells, 147cm x 91cm. (There is a dark model in private hands that can be seen on www.flickr.com) see illustration above.

There is another carpet with a different design attributed to Roger Fry but in the same style as the Hamilton one, but larger and more colourful. It appeared twice (possibly the same rug) on the market in London in two auctions: Sotheby's November 4, lot 285 and Christies May 12 1999, lot 241. The rug was woven for Sir Kay Muir in 1914 and measured 240cm x 188cm.

Any new information that would increase this list is always welcome. It is necessary to say that Duncan Grant produced rug designs throughout his career, even up to the 1970s, but they are not integrated within this present study as I was not able to identify the Omega sign. This is also true for Vanessa Bell, but on a much smaller scale.

Even though production was limited, the styles of these carpets are interesting and unique because they offered a complete opposite in style to that offered by the Arts & Crafts movement or by the Modernist style. My personal favourites are the compositions by Etchells which reflected both African art and the Cubism of Pablo Picasso, as illustrated above.

They clearly anticipated the tribal approach of da Silva Bruhns in the 1920s. It is worth mentioning that the series of gouaches by Duncan Grant portraying overlapping geometrical rectangles (Courtauld D.1958.PD 5 & 7/8/9), also clearly announce the mural paintings of Fernand Leger of 1925 that were afterwards produced as carpets by Myrbor, or the style of Edward McKnight Kauffer and his modernist rugs produced after 1928-29. To my knowledge none of the three artists has ever declared being influenced by the Omega Workshops. This visionary approach needed to be emphasised and therefore justified my two posts.

Article written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The Omega Workshops Limited: an Unfollowed Insular Modernist British Experiment

2009-09-29T22:20:00.001+01:00

Living in Paris I discovered last week in the bookstore at the Louvre Museum, a book entitled Beyond Bloomsbury. Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19. It corresponds to the exhibition held at the Courtauld Gallery which closed on September 20 2009. It focuses on textiles and presents for the first time many coloured drawings of carpets derived from the 1958 donation by Fry's daughter, Pamela Diamand to the Courtauld Institute of Art (www.artandarchitecture.org.uk). In addition three rugs were also illustrated. The interest in this, the first British Modernist experience, has increased mainly due to the reference book of Judith Collins The Omega Workshops, published in 1984.

The Omega Workshops Limited, was a company created by Roger Fry in 1913 with the financial support of intellectuals and artists, and was located at 33 Fitzroy Square, London. Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, the sister of Virginia Woolf, were two of the set of major actors in this laboratory of ideas, as were other members of the Bloomsbury Group. Fry had been influenced by the French initiative of the fashion designer Paul Poiret who created the Atelier Martine in 1911, and was the first to design fabrics after drawings from young girls who had not followed a classical artistic education. To this new, fresh and spontaneous approach to artistic creation, Fry added a collective, if not a socialist dimension, as all the products would bear the Omega sign as a signature instead of the names of the artists. This was the result of other artistic experiments on the Continent like the French community of artists called Abbaye de Creteil initiated by the poet Charles Vildrac in 1906-08.

Illustration from the 1914 Omega Workshops Descriptive Catalogue. The rug featured has not yet been identified.

Fry wanted to influence British art and design, which he felt had been imprisoned by the Edwardian Arts & Crafts style, and to create a break with the past, giving the artist a new approach. In the foreword of the Omega Workshops catalogue of 1914, Roger Fry writes: The Artist is the man who creates not only for need but for joy. By this sentence Roger Fry positioned his experience on a different level to that of the other movements in Europe like the Wiener Werkstatte or the Bauhaus group. These were much more concerned with the questions of ergonomics, research of functionalities, architecture and finding new materials and techniques of production. Omega productions covered all aspects of applied arts: ceramics, textiles, clothing, furniture, wallpapers, book design and toys. Major events that the Omega Workshops were involved in were the Ideal Home Exhibition of October 1913 and the Allied Artists Association Exhibition of June and July 1914. The activity of the company ceased in 1919.

What are the reasons for the closure? The early separation in 1913 of three initial members, including Frederick Etchells, who created the Vorticist movement and its corresponding workshop The Rebel Arts Centre, had weakened the credibility of Fry's initiative and brought confusion to the message he wanted to carry. Secondly, we can also estimate that the courageous pacifist stand taken by the Bloomsbury Group during World War I prevented Omega from attracting governmental support and acceptance from the general public. The fact that Fry was more of an artist than an organiser or a businessman, has also contributed to that final situation. To be objective, we must also state that the movement appeared prematurely in a completely unfavourable historical context. If it had been selected to represent Britain in the 1925 International Exhibition, we can estimate that Omega would have had a much better chance of survival.

How can we evaluate the influence of this experiment today? After 1919 most of the major artists of the group continued as painters attached to the Post Impressionist movement. Few articles concerning the Omega Workshops can be found today in comparison with what was produced, this was partly due to the low production quality of the Workshops. Contrary to other artistic movements, the Art Nouveau, Bauhaus or Art Deco for example, there were no architects in the group, and for that reason there are no buildings or large collections of work to express the theories and aims of Fry in the form of a manifesto. The collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Courtauld Gallery are representative of what remains. They can be viewed in part, on the web. Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant kept on producing decorative arts, sometimes using styles that were much more conventional and floral. Their Charleston home in Sussex displays much of their work. Finally, the result is uneven, and for that reason some specialists in design remain sceptical and reluctant to give any major credit to this experience. It seems clear that Continental European design of the twentieth century and even the British Modernist movement of the 1930s have almost forgotten the Omega Workshops. Nevertheless a certain proportion of their work is original and unique. We will develop this in the next post which is devoted to Omega rugs.

Written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

90 000 Euros for a French Unsighed Art Deco Carpet, Fifteen Times the Estimate. Was it by Gray, Boiceau, Ruhlmann or Another Major Designer?

2009-09-24T18:32:00.005+01:00

One of the best results in 2006 for a French Art Deco carpet was that obtained by Tajan in a winter sale of Decorative Art, no. 6660, November 29, lot. 96. The exact amount including tax was 91 258 Euros (www.tajan.com). The description of the lot was reduced to several lines emphasising the geometrical design. No additional information about the owner, designer or the history of the carpet was produced. The estimation price published was 4000 - 6000 Euros. Measurement: 315cm x 349cm. Colours: burgundy, black and white.

Carpet designed by Alfred Porteneuve, Art et Decoration, 1939, no. 1, pp. 60 & 61. The Carpet Index Library

As it so happens, I actually saw the carpet. It had a used label in a corner featuring a brand logo with three letters ESF. The design was indeed very elegant and the knotting of good quality, even if it was of medium density.

In 2007, when I discovered the results of the sale and the large difference between the catalogue and the eventual sale price, I needed to understand why. Logically I thought that if there were people willing to pay this amount, it must have been because it came from a major French designer of the twentieth century.

I looked in my files for unsigned rugs, and for Gray, Boiceau, Ruhlmann, without any luck (Da Silva Bruhns signed his rugs). It was only this summer, during my holidays that I discovered a possible attribution. While reviewing the magazines of the 1930s, in an Art et Decoration magazine, published in 1939, in an article related to the decorator Jacques Lardin, I found two illustrations (pages 60 & 61), presenting the rug along with Lardin furniture. The black and white photos were partially painted in order to cover the four white central rectangles. Under one photo a text attributed the design of the hand knotted carpet to Alfred Porteneuve.

Alfred Porteneuve (1896-1949) was the nephew of Ruhlmann. He studied architecture and then went to work for his uncle. In 1933, after Ruhlmann's death, he was responsible for managing the closure of the decorative department. In fact he produced his own designs for furniture and textiles and sometimes produced re-editions of his uncle's furniture. He was presented with one of his major orders during the 1937 International Exhibition. He designed rugs, many of which were woven by E.S.F (Etablissement Sallandrouze Freres) in Aubusson, and some others were produced by Vinay et Cie.

Although an answer has been found for our initial question, we need then to ask why did the carpet obtain such a high price? Perhaps the article is mistaken and the original design belonged to the Ruhlmann catalogue and the buyer had the foreknowledge of this before placing their bid.

Written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

1925: The Iconic 'Simultaneous' Carpet of Sonia Delaunay

2009-09-08T12:53:00.004+01:00

That's it! The holidays are over and it's time to comment on rugs again. The choice of subject was particularly large, but as I have just read a book by Jacques Damase about the life of Sonia Delaunay, the choice seemed clear.

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), was the wife of the French painter Robert Delaunay. She began working successfully with textiles during the First World War while living in Spain. She produced fabrics and fashion garments that were sold through several retail outlets. In 1920, she and her husband decided to move back to Paris. On their return they played a major role in the intellectual life of the capital and were keen supporters of the Surrealist, Dadaist and Abstract art movements. In 1924 she founded the Atelier Simultane workshop in order to produce her printed fabrics and fashion garments. With the fashion furrier Jacques Heim, she participated in the International Exhibition of 1925. Throughout the 1920s she belonged to the small group of textile designers who had managed to obtain both international recognition and international customers. Among these customers were Bauhaus decorators and American artists. In 1930, after the Stock market crash, she decided to focus on painting.

Sonia Delaunay 1925 carpet, plate 3, Tapis et Tissus, L'art d'Aujourd'hui, No. 15, 1929. The Carpet Index Library

In 1966, with the assistance of the Parisian editor Jacques Damase, she began to design carpets again which were subsequently exhibited in art galleries throughout Europe. The major event in her career during this period was that held in 1970 with the exhibition of the La Demeure gallery, see catalogue Tapis et Oeuvres Graphiques.

The influence that the Delaunay couple had on the world of art and fashion is inestimable, but as to floor covering, their influence was much reduced as they produced few carpets and direct followers of their style were limited, the main one being Marguerite Dubuisson.

Nevertheless, the carpet called 1925 is worth mentioning as it was produced and presented several times during the century.

It was first designed for the Delaunay's Parisian apartment, 19 Boulevard Malesherbes in 1924-25, to complement the interior decoration that had been created by Sonia. From the photos we can evaluate its measurements as being about 10ft x 10ft. The original drawing is most probably a fabric that was adapted into becoming a carpet. This rug, or a second copy, was used as a prop in the decoration of the 1926 film Le Vertige by Marcel L'Herbier. It was also shown to the public at the booth of the decorator Muratore for the 1927 Salon des Artistes Decorateurs. Finally, it was reproduced on plate 3, see the illustration above, in the folio presented by Sonia Delaunay in 1929 called Tapis et Tissus (Carpets and Fabrics), from the collection L'art d'Aujord'hui No.15, which contains only four plates by the artist. It seems that the carpet is now in the collection of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs with other furniture from her apartment, but is currently not visible to the public.

in 1967 the design was slightly changed and adapted by Jacques Damase for a new edition with a smaller reference size of 6.5ft x 6.5ft. The title of the carpet 1925 is then specified within the different catalogues. The collection that then toured Europe was hand woven in Caceres, Spain by Fabrica de Alfombras y Tapices de Santa Marta de Magasca which used a local weaving technique. The number of units sold is unknown.

It is possible that this smaller design was again produced in the late 1970s and 1980s by the Gallery Artcurial in Paris, and was produced using a tufted method by Pinton in Aubusson. In the company's catalogue, produced in the 1990s, this carpet was no longer mentioned, even though other designs were still available.

Written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The Studio: an Art Deco Modernist Carpet & Rug Bibliography & Iconography

2009-08-29T22:35:00.006+01:00

For the third holiday post I will give proof of my addiction to desk research in libraries. The Studio was a major British magazine for the arts. It didn't particularly specialise in either carpets or the decorative arts, but it did sometimes publish articles and illustrations that were unique. A second reason to study these articles is that the British Art Deco press was limited in both quantity and variety. To spare my blog readers the time, I will review this publication for the corresponding period of 1924-1935.

Before 1929 the magazine reported on foreign and especially French Art Deco influences, but after this date it is clear that British designers were given a privileged position in the magazine. I have only referenced the articles and illustrations concerning modern rugs and carpets. The magazines consulted were bounded by year, and the initial monthly pages were missing as were the advertisements. The main information is listed below.

Rare rug from Paolo Bevilacqua of Palermo, Italy, P.26, The Studio, 1930, Vol. C, The Carpet Index Library

1924-Gustave Fayet (French designer, 2 ills.) Volume LXXXVIII, p.167-9
1925-Edinburgh Rug by Scottish Folk Volume XL, p.55
1925-Carpets by M. da Silva Bruhns by M. Valotaire (4 ills.) Volume XLI, p.87-9
1927-A Modern Decorator Allan Walton (1 colour pl., 1 ills.) Volume XLIII, p.250-5
1927-Paris, report by Therese Bonnet (Mybor rugs) Volume XLIII, p.285
1928-German Alttann Village (rural flat weavings, colour plate) Volume XCV, p.60
1928-Hearth rug designed by Claude Flight made by Jean Orage Volume XCV, p. 343 & 348
1928-La Maitrise, a Creative Force in Decorative Art by Marcel Valotaire Volume XCVI, p.324-30
1929-New Rug Designs by E McKnight Kauffer and Marion Dorn. A conversation with a Studio representative (colour plate, 5 ills.) Volume LXXXXVII, p.35-9
1929-Henry Varnum Poor (hooked rugs, 2 ills.) Volume LXXXXVII, p.379
1930-Interiors by Eyrede Lanux (ills. with carpets by Evelyn Wyld) Volume IC, p.263-5
1930-International Exhibition of Glass and Rugs (New York) Volume IC, p.352
1930-Modern Interiors DIM (colour plate, 2 ills.) Volume IC, p.403-8
1930-The 1930 Look (Francis Bacon furniture and rugs) Volume C, p.140-1
1930-Look in British Decoration (Serge Chermayeff) Volume C, p.144-5
1930-Frank Brangwyn Volume C, p.440-4
1931-(Rug by Marion Pepler for Gordon Russle) Volume CII, p.267
1932-British Interior Architects of Today. Betty Joel (colour plate) Volume CIV, p.276-7
1932-Alexander Morton Torfyn Rugs (2 ills.) Volume CIV, p.368
1933-Syrie Maughan (Marion Dorn all-white rug, colour pl.) Volume CV, p.113
1933-Mybor Rugs (7 ills. Jean Lurcat, Marcoussis, Jourdain, Miro) Volume CVI, p.177-80
1935-Art in Hungary. The Picture Carpets of Stephan Pekary Volume CIX, p.46
1935-Wessex hand-tufted Rugs by Shirley Pearce and Grierson Ronald Volume CIX, p.68
1935-Grierson Ronald Volume CIX, p.159
1935-Betty Joel Volume CIX, p.308-9
1935-Astrid Sampe (Swedish textile designer) Volume CX, p.163-4
1935-Orion. Design of the Temporarygrissom (Liner decoration by E McKnight Kauffer & M. Dorn) Volume CX, p.190-8

Bibliographical and iconographical notes are basic information for any valuable research, but today they attract little attention from editors. I have referenced over 11 000 books and articles on western and oriental rugs and carpets over the years, and I am always interested in any publishing project, so do not hesitate to contact me if you have any ideas on the subject. Meanwhile I will keep using this giant information source to produce the texts of the present blog, for the service of everyone.

Written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Ege Rya Photos and Advertising Campaigns from the 1960s and 1970s

2009-08-12T12:20:00.005+01:00

Holiday post no. 2. As a library rat you might imagine that I have a preference for old black and white prints. However, that is not the case. In fact, if you search for information on carpets in publications from the 1960s and 1970s, you will notice an important change, as regular articles on the decorative arts that flourished between the wars have ceased. Here and there you could find something on the subject, but as a result of the lack of dedicated articles, you have to extend the field of research to include magazines that reported on fashion, architecture, design and even some general subjects. You will also have to reference advertising pages and general photos of interiors that often reproduced partial views of rugs, and hope that additional elements in the text would provide the designer's name, the size, the manufacturer, etc.

Partial back cover of an Ege Rya catalogue, conceived by Kaas & Martaeng Reklamebureau, Aarhus, Denmark, illustrating the Mexico design. The Carpet Index Library

Within this context, there is a company that managed to create a unique approach to their products. Its advertising and catalogues are difficult to find, but the image of the company has succeeded in remaining strong, even to this day in the United States. Ege is the company that I am referring to. Finding one of their rya catalogues is like finding a 'cherry on top of the cake' and a guaranteed pleasure.

Meanwhile I surf the web and progressively gather information regarding these rugs. It is thanks to the Internet that I was able to get into contact with a textile designer who worked for Ege. I was able to obtain additional information such as the name of the company which had produced the Ege advertisements with those iconic images. For at least a decade of selling their products, Ege managed to stick to the following basic triptych:

1) a rug is a world of the imagination.
2) a rug is a question of a woman's taste and conquest.
3) a rug is a design.

Each of these elements was represented differently over the years within a series of photos showing respectively:

1) a magnificent natural or fantastic environment (deserts, beaches, mountains, rivers, forests, etc).
2) a lone model splendidly dressed in haute couture garments.
3) a vividly portrayed coloured rug just lying on the floor, even if it was not completely and realistically portrayed.

The result, as you can see in the illustration shown, is remarkable. This Lunar-like landscape shares completely the spirit of the period that could be found in such British TV series as The Prisoner. The photos were used for their advertising campaigns, catalogues, or for illustrating press articles.

The carpet featured in the image is called Mexico and was produced by Egetaepper A/S, (Herning, Denmark), in four colours (red, orange, blue/green, brown), and in five sizes: 3' 1" x 5' 3", 4' 7" x 6' 7", 5' 7" x 7' 8", 6' 7" x 9' 1", 8' 2" x 11' 6". All were 100% wool.

Any contribution concerning the rya rugs, their designers, or the story of the company, is always welcome.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The Exceptional French Art Deco Press

2009-08-05T16:08:00.006+01:00

Of course August means holiday posts for any blogger! And guess what a documentalist does during this long awaited period? I bet you already know the answer, they become a library rat. It is only when they have a number of free successive weeks that they can produce real exhaustive investigations and read carefully through a complete collection of specialized magazines.

When I decided to focus on western carpet design, I began the work with the French Art Deco period of the 1920s and 1930s. You might think that it was an easy task, but to understand the length of time it took me to review the decorative press, just read the following list.

Cover from Les Echos d'Art, no 30, January 1928, featuring a carpet by Yvonne Fourgeaud, produced by A La Place Clichy. The Carpet Index

List of the French magazines covering the decorative field for the 1920s and 1930s:

ABC Magazine d'Art
L'Amour de l'Art
Art & Artistes
Art & Decoration
Art & Industrie
L'Art Vivant
La Gazette des Beaux Arts
Decor d'Aujourd'hui
Les Echos des Industries d'Art
Mobilier et Decoration
La Renaissance de l'Art Francais et des Industries

Of course, this inventory does not include any special decorative folders such as the ones from La Demeure, L'Art d'Aujourd'hui or Ce Temps Ci.

Why is all this important? It shows that even though France had not initiated the movement towards Modernism in the decorative arts, it did succeed in creating a real community and market after the First World War, when other countries were still trying to convince the general public and manufacturers to embrace the cause of Modernism. At that moment in time, Paris was the leading centre for creativity, and rug design just followed that movement. Due to its population, colonial empire and industry, France was in the unique position of supplying modernist goods to all levels of society, to suit all budgets, anywhere in the world. For people like myself, we consider this period to be a real Golden Age.

The magazine shown in the illustration, Les Echos des Industries d'Art, is the rarest of all. It is almost impossible to find the complete collection in any Parisian library. Generally the January issue contained the yearly article for carpets and tapestries. Owning even a few of these magazines, I consider myself to be a lucky man indeed. Even though it was printed in black and white, the quality of the publishing, long before any Adobe suite was available, is fantastic.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

An Explanation for the Unplanned Post Removal

2009-07-30T15:50:00.002+01:00

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?

2009-07-20T16:09:00.009+01:00

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

2009-07-16T14:00:00.006+01:00

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

The Francis Bacon and da Silva Bruhns Carpet, Part 2

2009-06-24T14:19:00.007+01:00

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

2009-06-19T14:15:00.007+01:00

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

2009-06-13T19:30:00.006+01:00

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

2009-06-02T14:59:00.006+01:00

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

Verner Panton and Unika-Vaev. An Unsolved Question for an Iconic Vintage Rya Rug

2009-05-30T16:15:00.006+01:00

With machine woven rugs, manufacturers usually never mention the original designer's identity. On the label stuck to the backing of most of these rugs we find the following information: quality, composition, size, name or reference, manufacturers name and address. Only a minority provide the name of the original designer and the year of its creation. You would imagine that you would be able to find the information within the paper catalogues of the manufacturers, but these are quite difficult to find as the rugs were often not considered as valuable collectibles, so that when we do get one of these carpets, they tend to remain unidentified. For rugs and carpets made during the 1970s, sometimes the adverts or press articles can provide the information required. But very often the attributes given tend to be made subjectively, and to a large extent depend on the skills, experience and objectiveness of the text editor. This situation still prevails today, preventing this field of design from gaining in credibility and value.

Unika-Vaev, Rya/Finlandia 50, Denmark. Copyright de Noronha Collection

The rug design shown above belongs to the iconic Scandinavian rya rugs produced in the 1960s and 1970s. This particular rug is generally attributed to Verner Panton, but my research has not enabled me to confirm this statement without reservation.

The following information is provided on the label in both English and Danish:

Manufacturer: Unika-Vaev, Copenhagen, Denmark
Department: Unikataeppe
Collection/Reference: Rya/ Finlandia 50
Other colours: brown/orange, blue/violet, red/orange
Sizes: 90cm x 170cm (36" x 76"); 140cm x 228cm (4' 6" x 7' x 6");
228cm x 228cm (7' 6" x 7' 6")
Material: Scottish and New Zealand wool

Unika-Vaev means 'unique weave' in Danish. The company was the chief supplier of fabric for the ICF Group. In 1975, ICF purchased the name 'Unika-Vaev'. The company still exists today, but now only produces textile fabrics.

The design clearly recalls Victor Vasarely's Op Art work. Verner Panton very often used concentric and imbricate squares in his work. In his textile design work for the Mira X Collection, another reference manufacturer for the designer, we find his signature printed clearly along the selvedge. For this rug that is not the case, and there is no monogram woven into the rug either. When conducting my research, I found on the web site www.classic-modern.co.uk last year, other ryas with similar large and small square designs, referencing Verner Panton. Those were produced by Ege, another major Danish vintage rug company. In Verner Panton, The Collected Works the comprehensive reference book from the Vitra Design Museum, the rug is not represented in the chapter dealing with Unika-Vaev textiles (pp316-9).

The question of finally attributing this design remains open, and any contribution towards the closing of this case is welcome.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Mathieu Mategot Carpets: Creative Rug Designs form the 1960s Worth Knowing

2009-05-26T22:36:00.009+01:00

The documentalist has to respect rules to be credible in the long term. They have to avoid the market trends, and be able to reference all types of textile work without a particular preference, which is sometimes difficult. Everyone has their own sensibilities, and it is often frustrating when you become aware of the talent of a designer, particularly when you get the impression that the market is unaware or unappreciative of that designers work. One reason for the creation of this blog is to publicise some of the great, but often underestimated artists and designers, and to share this 'coup de coeur' with others.

Mathieu Mategot, a prolific French textile and furniture designer of the 1960s belongs to this category. He designed hundreds of hand-woven Aubusson tapestries, but only managed to create a small collection of between six to ten carpet designs. These designs had to naturally work within the constraints and requirements of the floor, rather than the wall and are therefore completely different from his wall-hanging works. The majority of the 'tapestry cartoonists' of the time, rarely managed this feat. For example, Jean Lurcat, Maurice Andre, Fumeron and Saint-Saens failed to express the new decorative style of the 1960s, and so were therefore much criticised at the time.

Mathieu Mategot's largest rug, 265cm x 370cm, 1960s. Reproduced with the agreement of the owner

Mategot was different. Firstly, he chose to produce machine woven carpets, rather than hand-woven, some of which were made by Saint Freres. This shouldn't be seen as a negative step by Mategot, but as a positive affirmation of the principles of the Bauhaus, believing that mass production would be able to make design work available to everyone. Secondly, he intrinsically understood that modern floor-coverings required a different graphical treatment than that of a tapestry. Therefore, he produced a set of new techniques for the creation of his compositions. The illustration below clarifies this point.

Mategot arranged his compositions so that he separated the border area from the central background. Of course the edges are much more subtle and the divisions are evoked but not marked with straight lines. For the central design he often moved it in order to produce a new graphical and artistic effect, to create a movement to catch the eye and to break the symmetrical reproduction that is so often found in other classical style rugs. For the colours, he reduced their number to counteract the aggressive quality of the modern design. However, the colour palette does not feel limiting as he often uses the 'chine technique' (the mixing of different colours together), and the use of thin coloured mixed lines for the design of the overlapping zones of colour. Conversely, the colour zones in his tapestries are not merged, but remain singular and plain.

The end result is that his work is original, structured and innovative, but despite this, the large rug shown here could not find a buyer in a sale at Cornette de St Cyr on March 16, 2009, Lot 92, and even failed to find one on ebay.fr last month, despite an initial bid of 2000 Euros.

Market judgements can sometimes be disappointing, that is why I carry on studying and writing.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

A Ruhlmann or Follot Carpet. The Problem With 'False Friend' Rugs

2009-05-10T16:43:00.006+01:00

Very often in the study of art and design, it is tempting to classify the works of an artist, a workshop or a designer, by it's style. In carpet design, this can be attempted, but with regard to the specific Art Deco period, the classification of rugs by style quickly shows the limit of this type of classification. The reason being, that many designers produced carpets in relation to the market trends and individual consumers wishes and demands. A designer could also be inspired by another's work, or carpets would sometimes appear with similar design work even though produced by different artists, because they were produced in the 'spirit of the time'.

This was a common and accepted practice and many artists were involved. The result being that today it is often hard to attribute a rug with a specific artist as they have often lost or never had their label, signature, monogram, invoice or certificate. This makes it extremely difficult and time consuming to trace the origin of the rug.

I call these types of rug 'Faux Amis' (False Friends). The rugs belonging to this group are not copies, but are original pieces in which elements of the composition, the colours, or the patterns are borrowed, or recall the style of another designer.

Sometimes you are able to find documentation that will help to identify the rug. That is the case with the small black and white advertisement illustrated below.

Paul Follot carpet, Decor d'Aujourd'hui, 1937. The Carpet Index Library

The design with 'worms' or vermicular motifs, in the centre of a circular rug recall the style of Ruhlmann. The general composition, with a large multi-linear border could also confirm this statement. Ruhlmann Atelier's carpets were generally woven in Aubusson by Braquenie until 1933, which was the year of Ruhlmann's death. This particular carpet is dated 1920 and reproduced in colour on p55 of Susan Day's book Art Deco and Modernist Carpets, which is by far the best available on the subject and my personal bedside book!

However, the advertisement shown here attributes the rug to Paul Follot and states that it was produced by Tapis France-Orient in the Zaret workshop, in the suburbs of Paris. It also states that the carpet was exhibited at the 1937 International Show and made for the office of the U.C.A.F chairman. The advertisement was published in an issue of Decor d'Aujourd'hui magazine of 1937 (No. 24) and also in two issues from 1938 (No. 27 and 28).

However, in this period Paul Follot was no longer working for Pomone of the Bon Marche and had lost much of his influence due to the creation of the U.A.M association, which had sponsored a completely new direction for the decorative arts since the beginning of the 1930s. The manufacturer mentioned in the advertisement is almost unknown.

From this, you can perhaps understand why a carpet documentalist's profession can drive them crazy ... sometimes.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

...Francis Bacon and Da Silva Bruhns Rug...

2009-05-04T17:45:00.008+01:00

Text and comments for this post were removed on July 30 2009 and are no longer available.

See post of July 30 2009 for explanations.

New information on Jacques Doucet's Marcoussis Rug

2009-04-21T11:08:00.009+01:00

St James Studio of Jacques Doucet, Illustration, May 3 1930. The Carpet Index Library

When beginning the research of carpet and rug design work over twenty years ago, with little initial knowledge of the carpet world in general, it seemed difficult to believe that by compiling an exhaustive documentation on the subject, it would lead to changes in the accepted history of carpet and rug design.

A good example to illustrate these changes in accepted perception, is Jacques Doucet. he was one of the worlds leading fashion designers at the beginning of the twentieth century. It could be said that Doucet was a catalyst for the beginning of the Art Deco period, when he decided to sell all of his classical collection of furniture through a huge auction sale that took place in 1912. This event was as large and as important as the recent Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Berge sale that took place in February 2009 (see February 9 blog entry).

The commitment Doucet had for modern artists, writers and designers helped to give the necessary impulse towards adopting the modern movement. It was only the First World War that postponed the move towards the Art Deco style, the movement that was to place french artists and designers at the forefront of contemporary art and design in the 1920s.

Doucet's new studio apartment on the rue Saint James in Neuilly, was furnished by some of the best designers of the period, and it was treated as a public shop window for all that was new and contemporary in France. Included were carpet designs produced by Myklos, Lurcat and Marcoussis. The studio was highlighted in the magazine Illustration, published in 1930, through a set of colour illustrations. The image in this post shows the carpet by Marcoussis in Doucet's apartment.

Since the 1930 Illustration article, the history of the Marcoussis carpet has been fairly straightforward, with the history being documented in the two sales during the carpets lifetime. One was at the Hotel Drouot, Paris in 1972, while the other was at Sotheby's Parke-Bernet in Monaco, on October 24 1982, with the owners being identified as firstly R Walker and then Sidney and Frances Lewis. The latter offered the carpet to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , for their Decorative Art collection, where it remains to this day.

Looking at the other rugs produced by Marcoussis, the Carpet Index could not find any with a comparable design or style and when our library of rug images from Jean Lurcat were examined, it appeared that he had begun his decorative career with Pierre Chareau and his 'La Boutique', which was used for the distribution of his rug designs.

In the magazine Amour de l'Art, published in 1924, a carpet similar to Doucet's was shown. However, the first image of the Doucet rug appears in L'Official de la Couture, No 52, published in 1925 (not 1926 as is often stated), with the Myrbor designation. Myrbor was the art gallery run by Marie Cuttoli for the production of art textiles. Doucet discovered Cuttoli's rugs in the 1925 International Art Deco Exhibition. A similar carpet, but with a number of small differences, appears in the photo of the gallery from 1926. Therese Bonnet also photographed similar rugs from the period, such as Equerre by Lurcat produced in 1927.

Having researched the career of Jean Lurcat, it is clear that he was not proud of the Cuttoli period of his work, which corresponds to a hybrid production in terms of style. This helps to explain why he did not claim to be the designer of the piece during his lifetime. This can be explained by the subsequent career of Lurcat, as he was later to be recognised internationally as both a successful fine artist and one of the major french tapestry designers of the twentieth century. he was clearly unhappy with his earlier work and preferred not to add it to his later, more mature style.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Joseph Csaky's Forgotten Carpets

2009-04-19T16:44:00.008+01:00

Architecture d'Aujourd'hui No 10, January 1933. The Carpet Index Library

One of the frequent problems faced when researching Art Deco carpet designs and designers in libraries in particular, is that many of the artists and designers are mentioned infrequently, and sometimes not at all. A number of artists and designers appear only once or twice in magazines or in exhibition catalogues, such as the Salon d'Automne or the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs, and in many cases there are no accompanying rug or carpet illustrations.

Most of these minor artists and designers remain forgotten and are rarely mentioned in specialised books. A few might gain recognition in another field or medium, particularly if it is fine art based, but their carpet design work tends to be ignored.

A good example is the case of the Hungarian-born sculptor Joseph Csaky (1888-1971), who came to Paris and achieved some recognition in France between the First and Second World Wars. It seems that during this period he sold some drawings or paintings to Marie Cuttoli, the creator of the Myrbor Art Gallery, and a producer of both textiles and carpets. So far The Carpet Index has been able to identify three Csaky woven designs produced by Cuttoli. They were produced between 1928 and 1933, and were published in the following magazines:

1) Les Echos des Arts, No 42, January 1929.
2) Arts et Decoration, October 1931.
3) Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, No 10, January 1933 (See illustration above).

Even with this well documented knowledge, two carpets derived from Csaky's art work appeared on the market with the credit mistakenly given to Jean Lurcat. One was at a Sotheby's sale on December 4 1968, (Lot 357), while the other was at a Christie's New York sale on September 27 1986, (Lot 183). In the Sotheby's catalogue the carpet was mistakenly named La Maison au Toit Rouge (The Red Roof House), instead of the correct Fruits. Luckily there is a black and white photograph taken by Therese Bonnet, which is in the French Governmental archive, and so this confirms the provenance of the piece.

Carpet and rug research is littered with such inconsistencies, where obvious errors and misinterpretations can go unnoticed for years. It is the job of The Carpet Index to help to correct these often long standing mistakes and anomalies, so that future research will not be as muddled as it often has been in the past.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Calder's Mobile Tapestry and other Woven Works

2009-04-17T17:11:00.010+01:00

Alexander Calder, Mobile or Cercle Jaune, Contemporary French Tapestries, Charles E Slatkin Inc, New York, 1965. The Carpet Index Library.

Works woven from Alexander Calder designs, regularly appear on the market Either in Europe, particularly in Francs and the UK, and also in North America. These works have been neglected in previous Calder studies. However, even though the woven works are often considered of secondary importance in Calder's work, they are worthy of attention as they are an integral part of Calder's output as an artist.

The Carpet Index was expecting to produce a simple reference piece dealing with Calder's woven work, however, the subject appeared to be much larger that at first thought and will therefore now cover three editions of the Index magazine. The topics will be presented as follows: Vol 1 - The Hand Knotted Rugs; Vol 2 - The Tapestries; Vol 3 - The Nicaraguan Manguey Rug Project.

Calder's woven work is a large project that even the Calder Foundation has not attempted before. The volumes should appear over the next few months.

In the meantime, it might be a good idea to introduce the first volume by commenting on one of the three hand knotted rugs produced by Marie Cuttoli derived from a Calder painting. The rug itself was sold in Paris by Piasa on March 29 2009 (Lot 31).

The rug was called Mobile but was also known as Cercle Jaune. It measures 155cm x 200cm and was part of the collection put together in the 1960s by Marie Cuttoli and the Galerie du Pont des Arts. The entire collection toured Europe and North America in the 1960s using museum and art gallery venues like the Galerie Beyeler in Basel and the Charles E Slatkin gallery in New York. The rugs were also available for purchase.

They remained in the Tapis de Maitre catalogue of the Galerie Lucie Weill-Seligman into the 1980s. This particular design seems to have been the last of the three to be produced. It clearly shows the influence of Joan Miro, as do the other rugs produced by Cuttoli.

Cuttoli was a good friend of Calder, and it seems that the original work, from which the rug derives, was purchased by Cuttoli either during her stay in the US in the Second World War, or perhaps later in the 1950s.

The rugs were hand knotted in India and ordered in quantities of one size only. They have no fringes and the name of the artist is woven into the kilim on the underside. The quality of the knotting is fairly coarse which gave the rug a certain amount of rigidity and texture. The standard of the dying is good even though the wool itself is of medium quality.

Very often auction catalogues mention that rugs of this type were produced in limited numbers of between eight to ten. This is often the case with lesser known artists, but someone of Calder's standing and reputation would not have fallen into that category. Calder's work was still shown in the catalogue during the 1990s.

The Parisian art gallery was contacted for details of transactions but unfortunately no archives remain. However, as Calder's work was popular and fairly easy to sell, it can be estimated that as many as forty pieces were woven during the 1960s and 1970s.

Because of their relatively small size, the rugs could be used on the floor or hung as tapestries. This ambiguity between carpet and tapestry was a feature of the woven work of Calder.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

The Carpet Designs of Serge Poliakoff

2009-04-16T14:15:00.010+01:00

Composition Rouge by Serge Poliakoff, from the Art Surface Catalogue (1993). Carpet Index Library.

During his lifetime Serge Poliakoff had few of his designs reproduced as finished carpets. It was only in the 1990s with the French company Art Surface, that his designs became best sellers. Art Surface produced at least five different designs from Poliakoff's original design work from the 1960s. The company itself, produced both hand knotted and tufted carpets. The quality of the wool and the dyeing technique were of the highest quality which was reflected in their retail price, and for that reason the majority of their production had to be tufted, which corresponds generally with the quality found in the market today.

In the original Art Surface catalogue from 1993, the carpet designs had a reference size, but depending on the individual order, this could be changed. The company managed to obtain a wide range of design work and so the catalogue had contributions from about forty different contemporary artists. However, the company failed to gain a significant international recognition, and as a result a number of errors failed to be identified in the catalogue regarding some of the descriptions of its rugs. The company itself is no longer in existence.

For example, in the recent Christie's sale, 20th Century Decorative Art and Design in London, held on April 7 2009, Lot number 64 represents the smallest carpet that Serge Poliakoff produced for the Art Surface collection. It bears the name Composition Rouge or alternatively Composition Rouge 68, with '68' probably representing the year the original design was produced. The rug has been produced in a number of different sizes and was also available as a wall hanging in its smallest version. It is impossible to estimate how many examples were sold by Art Surface, as the company could produce up to a hundred pieces per design.

Identifying Poliakoff's rugs is relatively easy as Art Surface had the name of the artist sewn onto a cotton backing which was then glued on to the back of the rug.

The reference size for this design was 265cm x 195cm, the one on sale was slightly smaller (233cm x 173cm). The description in the sales catalogue mentioning Edition Ewald Kroner, a German company, as the manufacturer, and the 1960s as the decade of production, are inaccurate.

Nevertheless, these rugs remain good examples of 'floor art' and when they are kept out of direct sunlight, they manage to keep their vivid colour palette and so, therefore keep their original design ideal.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Christie's sale of the Collection of Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Berge

2009-02-09T16:37:00.009Z

The Christie's sale in Paris of Yves Saint Laurent and Piere Berge's collection contains a small range of carpets by two of the leading twentieth century designers, Ivan da Silva Bruhns and Ernest Boiceau.

Lot 349 Ivan da Silva Bruhns (1881-1980), 200cm x 160cm (78" x 63")

Here is an example of carpet with a minimalist design based on thin bands placed on a beige background. This carpet belongs to a set of at least twenty rugs and carpets that were ordered by the Maharaja of Indore, Yeswant Rao Holkar Bahadur, to furnish his palace, Manik Bagh. The palace had been decorated throughout with the latest in European Art Deco furnishings.

The decoration of the palace was overseen by the German architect Eckart Muthesius from 1930 to 1933. Major artists and designers from France, Germany and Britain contributed to the project.

Da Silva Bruhns was the major supplier of carpets and rugs. This particular carpet was one of the smallest that he designed for the palace. Interestingly, compared to many of da Silva's rugs that bare his name, this one does not carry the monogram of the designers workshop 'MS' which stood for 'Manufacture de Savigny'. This implies that the rug may well have been woven elsewhere, perhaps at Aubusson or in another Parisian workshop. This may have happened because the order for the Maharaja's palace was such a large one, that da Silva's own workshop did not have room to weave all of the carpets on site. This often happened if workshops were overbooked.

Lot 328 Ivan da Silva Bruhns (1881-1980), 940cm x 410cm (370" x 161")

This carpet, in contrast to the previous, is huge in scale. It is possibly the largest carpet ever produced by da Silva's workshop.

The design is inspired by Pre-Columbian Central American motifs, which he used regularly in his design work. All the symbols that he used seem to represent a magical or mysterious language that tries to communicate with the original tribal culture. It is as if da Silva wanted to find the original roots of the culture, through their motifs.

Aside from the size of the carpet, the composition of the design has little in common with other Aztec inspired design work of the period. the design is symmetrical, with a composition consisting of five elements repeated twice. There is no central medallion, but there is a large border that is a transposition of a Classical Greek motif, which is quite rare to find in da Silva's design work.

the classical aspect of this design could possibly have been a compromise worked out by da Silva with the original commissioner of the carpet, a compromise that he was willing to accept in order not to lose the lucrative commission for this oversized carpet.

Because of its size, there were very few rooms in which the carpet would have sat comfortably. For example, the average Parisian apartment would have been much too small as the carpet needed at least a minimum floor measurement of 550cm x 1080cm. But the room would also have had to have had a high ceiling to offset the carpets dark background. the weight was also a factor because for a carpet containing 38.54 square metres, with one metre weighing roughly 4kg to 5kg, the whole carpet would weigh around 160kg to 180kg. In fact, the carpet had to be reinforced to resist the tension caused by the size and weight of the carpet.

The carpet was probably commissioned by either an institution, or ordered by a company for a conference room, or even possibly an ocean liner, and could have been in collaboration with Leleu, as he was regularly commissioned to deal with large orders such as these.

Lot 278 Ernest Boiceau (1881-1950)

Ernest Boiceau was a rug designer who created his own individual technique called 'Point de Cornelly' which is based on embroidery, which was a speciality of Boiceau.

Boiceau did not have a particularly distinctive design style as he produced commission work purely for a small selective clientele. His designs were varied and could include geometrical, classical, minimalist or traditional motifs.

This particular carpet is a complex design composed of birds of differing sizes. it was probably produced round about 1927, and was once in the gallery of the Parisian dealer Philippe Eric.

Boiceau has about thirty different carpet designs accredited to his name. They are now extremely rare and highly collectible. Boiceau also produced a number of designed pieces of furniture.

The Christie's sale will be held in Paris on February 23-25.

Post written by Jean Manuel de Noronha

Introduction

2009-02-09T12:50:00.008Z

This is a short introduction to The Carpet Index, a blog entirely devoted to the history of carpet design. This blog will feature information on a range of carpet designers and will also include items of news concerning upcoming Auction sales, exhibition and gallery openings, concerning carpet design.

It is written and researched by Jean Manuel de Noronha, who for the last fifteen years has collected a wide and extensive range of documentary and visual images mostly concerned with European carpet design.

I hope you enjoy the blog, comments are welcome as are questions.

Post written by Jean Manuel Noronha