Jenna Gilley, Associate Curator of Exhibitions
Winter has arrived and, along with it, dark long nights that call for cozy blankets and glowing fires. Many blankets are woven from warm fibers like wool for maximum insulation; however, some weavings, like today’s treasure from the vault, are meant to be beautiful artworks rather than utilitarian objects. As Lauren Wolfer, our Associate Curator of Special Collections and Archives, discussed in her post, our staff recently transferred our permanent collection textiles to new storage. This work was an immediate favorite:
Lumière sur l’Inconnu, or Light on the Stranger, is a mid-century tapestry created by French-Hungarian designer, architect, and artist Mathieu Matégot (1910-2001). He spent most of his life in his beloved Paris, where he settled in 1931 after studying at Budapest’s School of Art and Architecture and working as a stage designer. In France, he created sets for the Folies Bergères, window dressings for the Lafayette Galleries, and briefly designed women’s fashions. He particularly fell in love with furniture, being one of the first to revitalize rattan weaving. At the end of the decade, he began to explore the world of tapestry making.
The onset of World War II disrupted his studies. In 1939, Matégot signed up as a volunteer for the French army but was captured and held prisoner in Germany until he escaped in 1944. While a prisoner, Matégot worked in a plant manufacturing mechanical accessories, where he learned the potential of sheet metal. This would be key in his development of Rigitulle, a signature technique where metal tubing is combined with perforated sheet metal to form light, airy, and minimal furniture. Matégot’s innovative designs quickly earned him fame, allowing him to set up a second workshop in Casablanca, Morocco. The country’s deep ties to weaving perhaps further spurred Matégot’s interest in textiles.
In the early 1960s, Matégot devoted himself full-time to tapestry work, becoming a leader in the revived movement. He used a restrained range of colors in rhythmic designs, often contrasting rich blacks with bright hues, as seen in Lumière sur l’Inconnu: fiery orange and aqua blue pop against the otherwise muted tones in this work. Similarly to the vibrant colors, a soft gold also illuminates sections of the work, creating a bold contrast between light and dark. Translucency also appears as a key element, harkening back to Matégot’s semi see-through rattan or punctured sheet metal furniture. This was probably one of Matégot’s earliest designs, as the tag on the back states it was woven in the Tabard workshop in Aubusson, France, where only the first of Matégot’s fiber works were made. Aubusson’s renowned tapestry trade began in the 15th century. Yarns are spun locally and hand-dyed in-house. Each tapestry is woven by hand by a lissier (a French term for master weaver) in a limited quantity following an artist’s original cartoon, or planning drawing. This process is time-consuming and expensive; therefore, Aubusson tapestries are a gold standard throughout the world.
Matégot was friends with Jean Lurçat, a French artist who is credited as being the first painter-tapestry cartoon creator. Following developments earlier in the century begun by Antoine Marius Martin and Marie Cutoli, Jean Lurçat arrived in Aubusson in 1937. He aspired to create works that embraced and integrated traditional tapestry techniques of the Middle Ages with modern flare. Instead of using tapestry as a medium to reproduce famous paintings or scenes in literature, as done in the past, textiles could be unique, standalone artworks. Following suit, famous artists such as Pablo Picasso and George Braque set off a revival of modern tapestry in France. Evidence of his influence is seen in Matégot’s limited but bold usages of color. In comparison, Matégot’s work is far more abstract, following the rise of Abstract Expressionism in art.
In 1959, when his company had just taken on an international dimension with the opening of a design office in London, he sold it to his partners who would operate it until 1964. Afterward, Matégot chose to teach tapestry at the Nancy School of Fine Arts until at least 1968. Matégot’s work was extremely successful and received recognition all over the world. His tapestries are found in the Woolmark Head Office at London, the Bank of International Settlements at Basel, the International Monetary Fund at Washington, and the National Library of Australia at Canberra. The artist lived a remarkable 91 years, passing away in February 2001 in Angers, France. His woven artworks stand as beautiful examples of the integration of tradition and modernity infused with mid-century style, which continues to influence artists today.