"Tapestries"
(Jacob Baal-Teshuva)
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The tapestry for the Musee National
Message Biblique Marc Chagall
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In 1969 Andre Malraux, the legendary French Minister
of Culture and man of letters, decided to honour Marc Chagall by
dedicating a national museum exclusively to him. Just six years before
this, Malraux had commissioned Chagall to paint the ceiling of the
Paris Opera in the Palais Gamier. For Malraux, Chagall was "one of the
great colourists of our time" and "the greatest figurative painter of
the century". A suitable site was found in Cimiez, in the hills above
Nice, and in 1969 the foundation stone was laid for the future Musee
National Message Biblique Marc Chagall. The heart of the museum is a
series of 17 monumental paintings that the artist donated to the
French nation. Chagall also created several stained-glass windows and
a mosaic for his museum, but one of the most striking pieces is
"Tapestry for the Entrance Hall", which was woven at the
Manufacture nationale des Gobelins" in Paris.
It was the fourth and last tapestry
to be woven for Chagall at that factory. The 226 x 322 cm work in
bright yellows, reds, browns and blues, depicts Nice, with its palm
trees and sea. The museum was opened on 7 July 1973, Chagall's 86th
birthday. It is dedicated to the message of the Bible, which remained
close to Chagall's heart all his life: "Ever since early childhood, I
have been captivated by the Bible. It has always seemed to me, and
still seems to me today, to be the greatest source of poetry of all
time. Ever since then, I have searched for its reflection in life and
in art. The Bible is like an echo of nature, and this is the secret I
have tried to convey."
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Tapestry for the Entrance Hall
1974
Tapestry, manufactured at the Manufacture nationale des Gobelins
in Paris
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The tapestries of Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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In 1964, while he was in Paris supervising the
weaving of his Knesset tapestries, Chagall was introduced by Mme.
Madeleine Malraux, the French Minister of Culture's wife, to Yvette
Cauquil-Prince, one of the most famous tapestry weavers of our time
and an absolute master of this revered and ancient craft. Her works
were already acclaimed by experts and curators of important museums
all over the world, including the Louvre. "The tapestry universe
conveyed by Yvette Cauquil-Prince takes on a new significance; it is a
new creation, another aspect of the work, its natural continuation",
observed Jean-Louis Prat, director of the Maeght Foundation in
Saint-Paul-de-Vence. "Nothing is identical with the original", he
continued, "everything is different and complementary, for tapestry
demands other lines of force provided by a creative autonomy: the
autonomy of the master-craftswoman [...] that is why Chagall was so
happy to have his own creation reinvented by this intermediary."
Yvette Cauquil-Prince exhibited her tapestries in
museums as far afield as Japan, Finland, Spain and the United States,
some forming part of permanent collections there. Her rendering of
Picasso's La Minotauro-machie - composed only in the colours of
black, white and grey - is a masterpiece that leaves the viewer
spellbound. Here she managed to transform Picasso's black and white
etching, with all its nuances of light and shade, into a monumental
mural. In all her tapestries one senses her great love of the artist
and his original creation. In the words of Sylvie Forestier, former
director of the Musee National Message Biblique Marc Chagall in Nice,
"the thread never betrays the brush; on the contrary, everything that
is expressed in the pictorial universe is optimally transposed into a
tapestry [...] and Yvette Cauquil-Prince is its mediating angel."
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"For me, a circus is a magic show that appears and disappears like a
world. There is a disquieting circus, and a true one. [...] The
clowns, the riders, the acrobats have taken root in my visions. Why do
their get-up and their grimaces move me? With them I approach other
horizons. The circus seems to me to be the most tragic show on earth,
man's most poignant cry across the centuries in his search for
amusement and joy. It often takes the form of high poetry."
Marc Chagall
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Circus I
1966
Tapestry, manufactured by master-craftswoman Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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Yvette Cauquil-Prince was born in Belgium, where she
studied painting. She trained as a tapestry weaver in Paris and often
visited the Musee de Cluny and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs to study
medieval French and Flemish tapestry weaving as well as Coptic
tapestries. In 1959 she opened her first studio in Paris, developing
new techniques with a group of weavers under her direction. Between
1959 and 1961 she worked mainly for Asger Jorn and Pierre Wemaere.
From 1961 she produced tapestries for Alexander Calder, Emile Hecq,
Francois-Xavier Lalanne, Roberto Matta, Jean Piaubert, Niki de Saint-Phalle
and Michel Seuphor, and from 1967 onwards also for Georges Braque,
Chagall himself, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Henry Miller
and Pablo Picasso, who trusted her skills implicitly.
On their first meeting, Yvette Cauquil-Prince showed
Chagall one of her Picasso tapestries. Chagall was deeply impressed
and asked her straightaway to choose one of his works for
transposition into a tapestry. She selected The Harlequin Family,
producing a tapestry measuring 205 x 155 cm from it.
Chagall loved the circus his whole life long and
painted circus motifs many times. "For me, the circus is a magic show
that appears and disappears like a world. There is a disquieting
circus, and a true one. [...] 'Circus' is a magic word, a timeless
dancing game where tears and smiles, and the play of arms and legs,
take the form of great art [...] The circus seems to me to be the most
tragic show on earth, man's most poignant cry across the centuries in
his search for amusement and joy. It often takes the form of high
poetry [...]."
All Chagall's tapestries are taken from paintings in
the style of his late work. Chagall was very pleased with Cauquil-Prince's
first tapestry for him on the subject of the circus. It marked the
beginning of a twenty-year collaboration, which gave rise to 29
Chagall tapestries, some on a grand scale. Daniel Alcouffe, curator at
the Louvre, spoke of the "admiration Cauquil-Prince's work aroused
[...] She is happy carrying out her task, and beams with serenity."
Bella Meyer, Chagall's granddaughter sees in Mme. Cauquil-Prince's
work an "articulated language, one that is direct, frank and clear,
emerging like the memory of a myth".
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The Harlequin Family
1970
Tapestry, manufactured by master-craftswoman Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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In the course of her long career, Mme. Cauquil-Prince
has produced more than 80 tapestries for leading artists of the
twentieth century. The tapestries she created for Marc Chagall cover
the whole spectrum of his themes: the Bible and the prophets, the
circus, life, flowers, dancing, peace. Through her skill and
professionalism, Yvette Cauquil-Prince could transform a gouache or
watercolour painting into a new, large-scale artwork without losing
the essence and character of the original or deviating from the
intention of the artist. Each of her tapestries is infused with a love
of and respect for the original work. In dialogue with her various
'client' artists, and with the greatest devotion and patience, she has
during her long career upheld the age-old traditions of tapestry
weaving, bringing the craft in the 20th century to new heights.
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The Blue Night
1969
Tapestry, manufactured by master-craftswoman Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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The Creation
1971
Tapestry, manufactured by master-craftswoman Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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"It is not for me to talk about myself and my
work. My aim was to get closer to the biblical homeland of the Jewish
people, to the land where the creative spirit, the Holy Spirit, is at
home, such as hovers over every page of the Bible and hovers here in
the air, over the fields, and in the hearts and souls of the
inhabitants."
Marc Chagall
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Moses
1973
Tapestry, manufactured by master-craftswoman Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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Bouquet with Bird
1971
Tapestry, manufactured by master-craftswoman Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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Composition in Blue
1972
Tapestry, manufactured by master-craftswoman Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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The Prophet Jeremiah
1973
Tapestry, manufactured by master-craftswoman Yvette Cauquil-Prince
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The Prophet Jeremiah
"The image of the prophet tells of the history of the chosen people of God and in
the pages are written the prophecies of peace, of wisdom, and of the
understanding between all the peoples of the earth for the
and hope and seems to sing the Song of Songs.
The red colour of the bird makes an illusion to
the long sufferings of the Jewish people across the centuries, their
sacrifices and their inno-
In painting the woman, I thought of the women of
the Bible, of Madame Golda Meir, and of all the valiant women of the
earth. In depicting the other women, my thoughts went to Madame
Hclfaer. The blue represents the colour of hope and of the new Israel.
The blue colour of the other bird, symbolises the hope of life, of
truth, and of good fortune for all of humanity. The moon, in another
era in my life, permitted me to dream of a better future."
"The drawing of
this tapestry has been made by me at the request of Mr Albert Adelman,
intermediary for Mr Helfast"
Marc Chagall
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