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Louis le Brocquy
EDEN
Lot 27
Price Realised:
€42,000
Estimate:
€25,000 - €35,000
Louis le Brocquy HRHA, 1916-2012
EDEN
Colour-inverted Aubusson tapestry, Atelier Rene Duche, 43 1/4" x 71" (110 x 180cm). Edition 4/9, with Certificate of Authenticity sewn on reverse, signed, numbered, titled and dated 1991 by le Brocqu...
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Lot 27
Louis le Brocquy
EDEN
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Lot 27
Louis le Brocquy
EDEN
Estimate:
€25,000 - €35,000
Louis le Brocquy HRHA, 1916-2012
EDEN
Colour-inverted Aubusson tapestry, Atelier Rene Duche, 43 1/4" x 71" (110 x 180cm). Edition 4/9, with Certificate of Authenticity sewn on reverse, signed, numbered, titled and dated 1991 by le Brocquy and Duche.
Provenance: Sold these rooms, Irish Art Auction, 25th November 2009, Cat no. 36.
In 1948 , Edinburgh Tapestry Weavers, an ancient industry under the patronage of the then Marquis of Bute, invited a number of painters, working in London, to design tapestries. The artists included Stanley Spencer, Graham Sutherland and Louis le Brocquy, who later continued his work in this medium in collaboration with the Tabard workshop at Aubusson in France. In 1951, Mrs. S.H. Stead-Ellis, commissioned three related tapestries on the theme of the Garden of Eden- 'Adam and Eve in the Garden', 'Eden' and 'Cherub'.
In Eden, the Woman's Heel which the angel promised would crush the serpent descends from above, while the serpent continues to writhe below. The leaves of the Tree mingle with the tears of Adam and Eve while the fatal apple is discarded, bitten and segmented.
The genesis of le Brocquy's colour-inverted tapestries pivots on his meeting with designer Jean Lurçat in the summer of 1952 in London where le Brocquy had established his Battersea studio. The innovations in the weaving industry coupled with his own earlier interest in the emotional effect of colour led him to explore the medium through the adaptation of early small-scale flat (gouache) cartoons.
"In Dublin during the early forties, I became interested in the effect of colour, particularly in the relationship of the chromatic scale in music to the twelve subdivisions of the primary colours, red, yellow and blue. I still have some remaining charts I made at the National Library in which I attempted to relate musical notes to their corresponding colours by means of their comparative vibrations. I was fascinated by the possibilities of reconstructing musical chords in pure colour. In paintings I made at the time, such as Spanish Shawl (1942) I did in fact manage to incorporate major and minor 'colour chords' for their emotional resonance. At the same time I was also excited by the dramatic effect caused by the visual inversion of both colour and tone. I then noted:
Further to the emotional character of single and interrelated colour, lies the magic of colour reversal. Staring fixedly at a colour or colours, the 'saturated' eye - shifting to a white surface - precisely inverts colour both in hue and in tonality. A retinal 'memory' emerges inverted, an entirely new perception as contrary as night from day.
Some years later in London (1948 - 52) I designed a number of tapestries for Tabard Frères et Soeurs, Aubusson, which included Travellers, Garlanded Goat, and the Eden series. These tapestries were designed by means of a technique I learned directly from the master in this medium, Jean Lurçat. No coloured cartoon is involved. Instead a purely linear cartoon defines areas within which a range of coloured wools are indicated by numbers.
But, further to these first cartoons, my excitement regarding the drama of colour-inversion encouraged me to make at the time second versions of these linear cartoons, inverted both in colour and tone. I have had to wait some fifty years before these colour-inverted cartoons could be woven at Aubusson by the great Lissier Rene Duche who along with my son Pierre has at last enabled me to realise their inverted transformation of mood, 'as contrary as night from day."
(Ref: annemadden.com - colour inverted tapestries)
EDEN
Colour-inverted Aubusson tapestry, Atelier Rene Duche, 43 1/4" x 71" (110 x 180cm). Edition 4/9, with Certificate of Authenticity sewn on reverse, signed, numbered, titled and dated 1991 by le Brocquy and Duche.
Provenance: Sold these rooms, Irish Art Auction, 25th November 2009, Cat no. 36.
In 1948 , Edinburgh Tapestry Weavers, an ancient industry under the patronage of the then Marquis of Bute, invited a number of painters, working in London, to design tapestries. The artists included Stanley Spencer, Graham Sutherland and Louis le Brocquy, who later continued his work in this medium in collaboration with the Tabard workshop at Aubusson in France. In 1951, Mrs. S.H. Stead-Ellis, commissioned three related tapestries on the theme of the Garden of Eden- 'Adam and Eve in the Garden', 'Eden' and 'Cherub'.
In Eden, the Woman's Heel which the angel promised would crush the serpent descends from above, while the serpent continues to writhe below. The leaves of the Tree mingle with the tears of Adam and Eve while the fatal apple is discarded, bitten and segmented.
The genesis of le Brocquy's colour-inverted tapestries pivots on his meeting with designer Jean Lurçat in the summer of 1952 in London where le Brocquy had established his Battersea studio. The innovations in the weaving industry coupled with his own earlier interest in the emotional effect of colour led him to explore the medium through the adaptation of early small-scale flat (gouache) cartoons.
"In Dublin during the early forties, I became interested in the effect of colour, particularly in the relationship of the chromatic scale in music to the twelve subdivisions of the primary colours, red, yellow and blue. I still have some remaining charts I made at the National Library in which I attempted to relate musical notes to their corresponding colours by means of their comparative vibrations. I was fascinated by the possibilities of reconstructing musical chords in pure colour. In paintings I made at the time, such as Spanish Shawl (1942) I did in fact manage to incorporate major and minor 'colour chords' for their emotional resonance. At the same time I was also excited by the dramatic effect caused by the visual inversion of both colour and tone. I then noted:
Further to the emotional character of single and interrelated colour, lies the magic of colour reversal. Staring fixedly at a colour or colours, the 'saturated' eye - shifting to a white surface - precisely inverts colour both in hue and in tonality. A retinal 'memory' emerges inverted, an entirely new perception as contrary as night from day.
Some years later in London (1948 - 52) I designed a number of tapestries for Tabard Frères et Soeurs, Aubusson, which included Travellers, Garlanded Goat, and the Eden series. These tapestries were designed by means of a technique I learned directly from the master in this medium, Jean Lurçat. No coloured cartoon is involved. Instead a purely linear cartoon defines areas within which a range of coloured wools are indicated by numbers.
But, further to these first cartoons, my excitement regarding the drama of colour-inversion encouraged me to make at the time second versions of these linear cartoons, inverted both in colour and tone. I have had to wait some fifty years before these colour-inverted cartoons could be woven at Aubusson by the great Lissier Rene Duche who along with my son Pierre has at last enabled me to realise their inverted transformation of mood, 'as contrary as night from day."
(Ref: annemadden.com - colour inverted tapestries)
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In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
PLEASE BID EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
In order to allow rival bidders the opportunity to respond to a late bid the following extensions will apply:
IF A BID IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FINAL 45 SECONDS OF THE COUNTDOWN THE CLOCK WILL RESET TO 60 SECONDS.
At any point you can leave a maximum bid, representing the highest price you are prepared to pay for a particular lot. Bidding only advances when there is competition from a rival bidder. In that case the system bids on your behalf, only up to the maximum if required. All bids are relayed to you be email, along with notification if you have been outbid.
All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
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