Description
One woman's influential contribution to modernism, achieved through a fascinating revival of tapestry
Marie Cuttoli (1879-1973) lived in Algeria and Paris in the 1920s and collected the work of avant-garde artists such as Georges Braque, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso. In the ensuing decades, she went on to revive the French tapestry tradition and to popularize it as a modernist medium. This catalogue traces Cuttoli's career, beginning with her work in fashion and interiors under her label Myrbor. She subsequently commissioned artists including Braque, Le Corbusier, Fernand Leger, Man Ray, Miro, and Picasso to design cartoons to be woven at Aubusson, a center of tapestry production since the 17th century. Today these cartoons-paintings and collages by canonical artists-are often understood as autonomous works of art, but this catalogue uncovers their original purpose as textile designs. Beautifully illustrated with rarely exhibited works by giants of European modernism, Marie Cuttoli reveals the significant contributions of a shrewd and visionary woman as well as the role of the decorative arts in the development of the movement.
Distributed for the Barnes Foundation
(February 23-August 23, 2020)
About the Author
Cindy Kang is associate curator at the Barnes Foundation.
Reviews
"Kang transcends the purely biographical approach that has long plagued monographs on craftspeople and designers to situate Cuttoli's production within the critical discourses surrounding gender, colonialism and the decorative."-Sarah Parrish, The Burlington Magazine
Book Information
ISBN 9780300251319
Author Cindy Kang
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
Marie Cuttoli (1879-1973) lived in Algeria and Paris in the 1920s and collected the work of avant-garde artists such as Georges Braque, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso. In the ensuing decades, she went on to revive the French tapestry tradition and to popularize it as a modernist medium. This catalogue traces Cuttoli's career, beginning with her work in fashion and interiors under her label Myrbor. She subsequently commissioned artists including Braque, Le Corbusier, Fernand Leger, Man Ray, Miro, and Picasso to design cartoons to be woven at Aubusson, a center of tapestry production since the 17th century. Today these cartoons-paintings and collages by canonical artists-are often understood as autonomous works of art, but this catalogue uncovers their original purpose as textile designs. Beautifully illustrated with rarely exhibited works by giants of European modernism, Marie Cuttoli reveals the significant contributions of a shrewd and visionary woman as well as the role of the decorative arts in the development of the movement.
Distributed for the Barnes Foundation
Exhibition Schedule:
(February 23-August 23, 2020)
About the Author
Cindy Kang is associate curator at the Barnes Foundation.
Reviews
"Kang transcends the purely biographical approach that has long plagued monographs on craftspeople and designers to situate Cuttoli's production within the critical discourses surrounding gender, colonialism and the decorative."-Sarah Parrish, The Burlington Magazine
Book Information
ISBN 9780300251319
Author Cindy Kang
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
