Provo, Utah - In the 1930s, Jean Lurçat (1892 – 1966), a French surrealist painter, developed a system that simplified the complicated process of weaving and sparked a modern revival of the tapestry art form.  Thanks largely to Lurçat’s vision and commitment to the art of weaving, a surprising number of modern painters and sculptors were inspired to transfer a selection of their enduring masterpieces to tapestry. 

“Tapestries: The Great 20th Century Modernists,” on view through July 24, 2006 at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art, reveals the beauty and splendor of one of the most celebrated art forms of the past through the designs of the great modernists of the 20th century.  The exhibition features 19 woven designs by Lurçat, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Jean Arp, Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier, Henri Matisse, Vassily Kandinsky, Victor Vasarely, Georges Braque and Marc Chagall.

“This exhibition is a fusion of new and old — the bold abstract designs of modernism and the ancient techniques of hand-woven tapestry,” says BYU Museum of Art Curator Paul Anderson.  “And it is a surprisingly appealing combination. The simple geometries and pure colors of much modern art transfer readily to the loom, and the large scale and soft texture of tapestry give these designs a sense of drama, warmth, and richness.”

Tapestry is an art designed for architectural spaces, like frescoes or murals; however, creating art on a loom requires a very different approach then painting.  The large dimensions of a tapestry demand the collaboration of a team of at least four people: the artist as the designer of the composition or cartoon, the manufacturer of the threads, the dyer producing the various color shades of the threads and the weaver who executes the final work.  The interplay between the artists and weavers offers delightful insights into the tradition of tapestry and its surprising impact on 20th century modernism.

“Tapestries: The Great 20th Century Modernists” is organized by the Trust for Museum Exhibitions in Washington, D.C.  The BYU Museum of Art is one of only six American museums — the only museum in the western United States — to host this remarkable group of tapestries assembled from a dozen collections throughout Europe and America.

Visit The BYU Museum of Art at : http://cfac.byu.edu/moa/