Marie Cuttoli, French entrepreneur,1879-1973, persuaded the celebrated modern artists of her time – 1930’s France – to create designs (cartoons) – some of these sold later as individual paintings – for the historic Aubusson tapestry workshops.
Marie Cuttoli with Léon Blum, Nusch and Paul Eluard, Man Ray – 1938. Photo from the net with no other information.
Braque, Derain, Raoul Dufy, Lurçat, Henri Matisse, Man Ray, Miro, Picasso, and Rouault.
Marie Cuttoli collected modern art and opened a fashion and interior decor shop under the label Myrbor in Paris in 1922. Married to a politician with life-long links to Algeria, she first used Algerian weavers before moving to the weaving ateliers of Aubusson.
In her own shop, she displayed modernist art, clothing and interior decor from 1926 onwards; and then modernist tapestries which she commissioned.
These tapestries toured the US during World War II and their designs, imitated, reworked, recoloured, have long since become part of our lives.
Dr Alfred Barnes supported Marie Cuttoli’s exhibition of these tapestries in the US and the Barnes Foundation mounted an exhibition of some of them in 2019.
So great became her international reputation that it was to her that was consigned the supervision of the weaving of one of the largest tapestries ever to have been woven: the tetramorph, Christ in Glory, designed for Coventry Cathedral in England, a symbolic high water mark of the country’s recovery from war.
The tapestry was designed by Graham Sutherland (1903-1980, British) at the request of the cathedral’s architect, Basil Spence (1907-1976, British).
It was woven with Australian wools in one piece by Pinton Freres in Felletin near Aubusson using Aubusson techniques; and consecrated in 1962.
Tetramorph of Christ in Glory at the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral, United Kingdom
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Cartoon designs are generally reversed when woven. This is a consequence of the technique used to translate the design to weft and warp.
The Garden, c. 1925; Myrbor established 1922; wool and linen. Designed by Jean Lurçat, 1892- , French. Thought to have been woven in Algeria.
Art Institute of Chicago
The Little Family, c. 1933, oil on paper mounted on canvas.
Georges Roualt, 1871-1958, French. Loaned by the Idemitsu Museum of Arts. Tokyo in 2019 to the Barnes Foundation
The Little Family, c. 1933, cotton and wool with silk; probably woven by Atelier Delarbre.
Designed by Georges Roualt, 1871-1958, French. Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Paris, 1934, wool and silk, woven by Atelier Delarbre, Aubusson.
Designed by Raoul Dufy, 1877-1953, French. Loaned by the Centre Pompidou
Rhythmic Figures, 1934, oil on canvas.
Joan Miro, 1893-1983, Spanish. Loaned by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf to the Barnes Foundation in 2019.
Rhythmic Figure or Woman and Birds, 1934, cotton and wool with silk, woven in Aubusson. Designed by Joan Miro, 1893-1983, Spanish. Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Secrets (Confidences), or Inspiration, 1934, cotton and wool with silk; woven by the Atelier Delarbre, Aubusson.
Designed by Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish. Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Composition with Three Figures – Fragment 1932, oil on canvas.
Fernand Leger, 1881-1955, French. Loaned by the Carnegie museum of Art, Pittsburgh to the Barnes Foundation in 2019
Le Corbusier in his studio in the Rue Nugesser-et-Coli in Paris next to Leger’s tapestry Three Personages installed in an exhibition mounted in 1935.
The whereabouts of this tapestry is not currently known.
Minotaur, 1935, wool and silk, woven in Aubusson.
Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973. Loaned by the Musee Picasso, Antibes.
The Wounded Clown, 1932, oil on paper mounted on canvas.
Georges Rouault, 1871-1958, French. Loaned by the Centre Pompidou to the Barnes Foundation in 2019
The Wounded Clown, 1935, wool and silk; probably woven by Atelier Delarbre.
Designed by Georges Roualt, 1871-1958, French. Musee Picasso, Antibes on loan to the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia in 2019
Still Life with Guitar, 1928-30, oil and sand on canvas.
Georges Braque, 1882-1963, French. Statens Museum fur Kunst Copenhagen loan to the Barnes Foundation in 2019
Still Life with Guitar, 1935, wool; woven in Aubusson. Designed by Georges Braque, 1882-1963, French.
Loaned by the Musee de Grenoble to the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia in 2019
Woman with Boat and Rope and Door, c, 1935, graphite and ink on paper.
Le Corbusier, 1887-1965, Swiss active France. Loaned by the Le Corbusier Foundation to the Barnes Foundation in 2019
Marie Cuttoli,1936, wool and silk, woven in Aubusson.
Designed by Le Corbusier, 1867-1965, Swiss active France. Loaned to the Barnes Foundation in 2019 by Le Corbusier Fondation
The Seasons and the Arts, 1936, wool and silk; woven by Atelier Delarbre.
Designed by Jean Lurçat, 1892-1966, French.
The Stag Hunt, 1938, oil on canvas.
André Derain, 1880-1954, French, woven in Aubusson. Loaned by the Musee d’art moderne, Troyes to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2019
The Stag Hunt, 1938, wool and silk.
Designed by André Derain, 1880-1954, French, woven in Aubusson. Loaned by the Musee d’art moderne, Troyes to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2019
Rayograph (Tapestry Project), 1925-26, rayograph on hand-ruled mount.
Man Ray, 1890-1976, American. Loaned by Kicken Berlin to the Barnes Foundation in 2019
Shadows, 1938, wool; woven by Atelier Pierre Legoueix.
Designed by Man Ray, 1890-1976, American. Loaned by the Cite internationale de la tapisserie, Aubusson
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Muralnomad Tapestry ‘Les Musiciennes’, 1953, wool; woven by Les Ateliers Pinton Freres, French est. 1867.
Le Corbusier, 1887-1965, Swiss active France. MOMA, NY
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