DOM ROBERT (1907-1997) (GUY DE CHAUNAC-LANZAC,... Lot 136

DOM ROBERT (1907-1997) (GUY DE CHAUNAC-LANZAC, KNOWN AS) CARTONNIER & TABARD BROTHERS AND SISTERS LISSIER IN AUBUSSON Chèvrefeuilles, the creation of the cardboard in [1973], proof numbered 2/6 Very important tapestry of basse-lisse. Colored wools. Extreme freshness of colors. Made in 1974. Signed and dated D. ROBERT 1973 and bears the monogram of the weaver in the weft at the bottom left, numbered 2/6 in the weft on the back, complete with its original bolduc, countersigned by the artist, from TABARD Frères & Sœurs Aubusson sewn on the back bearing the handwritten mentions in felt-tip of title Chèvrefeuilles, of cartonnier Dom ROBERT, of dimensions and of matricule 2027. 250 x 367 cm Provenance: - M. and M. R., Paris. Work acquired from the Gallery La Demeure, directed by Denise Majorel, in the early 1970s. - Work remained in the descent of the precedents. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Mrs. Sophie Guérin Gasc, responsible for the collections of the Dom Robert Museum and the 20th century tapestry of Sorèze (Tarn) and director of the Dom Robert Association in Verdalle for the precious information she gave us about this work. Public collections : Museum Dom Robert and of the tapestry of the XXth century, Sorèze (Tarn) - Another copy of this tapestry Honeysuckle of Dom Robert is preserved in this institution. Bibliography : - Dom Robert, tapestries récentes - Catalogue of the exhibition organized at the Galerie La Demeure, Paris (April - May 1974), Éditions Abbaye d'En Calcat et La Demeure, Paris, 1974. The fragment of a similar work reproduced on page 15 and a fragment of its cardboard, dated 1973, reproduced on page 23. - Dom Robert, œuvre tissé - Catalogue of the exhibition organized at the Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie contemporaine, Angers (March 30 - June 24, 1990); and at the Musée Départemental de la Tapisserie, Aubusson (July 4 - September 16, 1990), Éditions des Musées d'Angers, Angers, 1990. A similar work referenced among the tapestries exhibited in the catalog, unpaginated. - Paul Ruffié - Dom Robert, Pleins Champs - Catalogue of the exhibition organized at the Musée du Pays Vaurais, Lavaur (June 4 - August 29, 2004), Éditions de la Ville de Lavaur, Lavaur, 2004. A similar work reproduced on pages 38 and 39. - Collective - La clef des champs : Dom Robert - Éditions de l'Abbaye d'En Calcat, Dourgne / Éditions Privat, Toulouse, 2003. A similar work reproduced on pages 124 and 125; a detail of this one reproduced on page 123. - Collective - Les saisons de Dom Robert, tapestries - Éditions de l'Abbaye d'En Calcat, Dourgne / Éditions Hazan, Paris, 2014. A similar work reproduced on page 164; details of this one reproduced on pages 138, 139 and 167, and a detail of its box on page 166. DOM ROBERT (1907-1997) Celebrated as one of the great masters of twentieth-century tapestry, Dom Robert (1907-1997) - born Guy de Chaunac-Lanzac - was responsible for more than 150 tapestry cartoons, most of them marked with the flourishing flora and fauna motifs he loved so much. He entered the Abbey of En Calcat, in the Tarn, in 1930, and decided to dedicate his life to the Benedictine order. However, his destiny as a religious man soon met his vocation as a cardboard painter. Initiated to painting as a child, and a student of the École des Arts Décoratifs, Dom Robert had nevertheless turned away from drawing and had only returned to the language of painting on his arrival at the Benedictine monastery. Devoting himself to watercolor, he produced illuminations, whose decorations already bore witness to the "universe in the making" of the future cartoonist1. Also, his true epiphany took place upon his return from the war, in 1940, when he remained fascinated by the cry of peacocks heard from the yard of a farm. This moment of enlightenment marked a decisive turning point in his work, which would forever be inspired by nature itself. In 1941, Jean Lurçat (1892-1966), another master of contemporary tapestry, discovered a watercolor of peacocks and suggested to the monk that he translate it into the art of weaving - it then became L'Été (1941), his first tapestry, which was followed by the other seasons of the year. Through Lurçat, Dom Robert's works were woven in Aubusson by the Tabard workshop, then by Suzanne Goubely. They were then successfully distributed throughout the world, notably by the famous Parisian gallery La Demeure, founded in 1950 by Denise Majorel, whom she met through François Tabard. Little by little, all religious and human figuration disappeared from Dom Robert's cartoons, to make way for representations of nature, which he perceived as inhabited by God. True embodiment of the mystery and beauty of divine creation, plants and animals became the permanent object of his attention. The monk then made numerous studies from nature in his notebooks, sketching the fruit of his long hours of study.