Porphyrée
Tapestry after a cartoon by Claude Loewer (1917-2006)
France, Aubusson, Picaud workshop
Workshop label lower right, woven signature of the artist on the left
Bolduc
1966
Unique piece
Provenance: former collection of the Dresdner Bank, Germany
Edition EMI " esthétique murale internationale " for the Galerie Verrière, Lyon.
In 1966, Claude Loewer's tapestries remain imbued with lyricism, yet his writing is already moving towards a more geometric formal approach. Porphyrée illustrates the transition between lyrical abstraction and geometric abstraction which mark the two periods of the artist's production.
Claude Loewer is a Swiss painter, born in 1917 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Very early on, he became aware of painting and, more generally, of art (his parents were great art lovers). Nevertheless, his artistic ambition had to be put on hold: his family intended him to study literature (classical studies in Latin, Greek and Hebrew), which he did.
Claude Loewer explores several mediums including painting, ceramics, drawing and collage. The artist is keen to explore monumental and architectural art forms: among them, tapestry, which occupies a very important place in his work.
It was in 1953, in France, that the Swiss painter observed his first tapestry fall from the loom, at the Raymond Picaud workshop. Alongside the Aubusson weaver, Claude Loewer produced until 1974, nearly 160 cartoons for tapestry. He is among the protagonists of the revival of the twentieth century tapestry, the artist leads this fight with great names of the tapestry. Among them, Jean Lurçat who said of him that he was his greatest competitor.
Throughout his woven adventure, Claude Loewer is accompanied by Raymond Picaud. The weaver takes him into the world of tapestry and allows him to acquire essential knowledge, technical, on the weaving of his works.