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Aubusson Tapestry



It is a tapestry made in Aubusson, a small city in central France, in the upper valley of the Creuse.

Aubusson tapestries are a centuries-old craft that involves weaving an image using processes that are practiced in Aubusson and other localities in the Creuse region of France. Often, this term refers to similar products made in nearby Felletin, whose products are often referred to as "Aubusson".

As far back as the 16th century, documents mention looms in family workshops that were run by the Flemings, possibly already established after 1300. Despite generally not being considered equal to the royal manufacture of Gobelins tapestry and the privileged position of Beauvais tapestry, Aubusson tapestry of the late 18th century managed to compete with them.

As the business thrived in the 19th century, they produced reproductions of items from previous centuries as well as furniture covers and floral tapestry carpets. Tapestry weaving in the town was boosted by the post-World War II revival. In fact, Jean Lurçat, the leading tapestry weaver, moved there in September 1939, along with Marcel Gromaire and Pierre Dubreuil.

Most Aubusson tapestries were designed from engravings that the low-warp tapestry-weavers worked from. Figures were set against a standard background of greenery, stylized foliage, and vignettes of trees from which birds perch and views of towers and towns are visible, as with Flemish and Parisian tapestries of the same period.

This craft produces primarily decorative wall hangings, while also producing rugs and furniture. An Aubusson tapestry can be made with a cartoon (template) prepared by a paper artist. A weaver, or lissier, creates the tapestry by hand on a horizontal loom, working on the reverse side of the fabric and hand-dying the yarn. This process is time-consuming and expensive.

To the extent that Aubusson has become a common noun in some languages, the Aubusson tapestries serve as a gold standard throughout the world. In Aubusson and Felletin, tapestry production supports three small businesses and about ten freelance artisan weavers, which in turn support a significant number of other jobs (wool production and spinning, marketing, sales of by-products, museums, exhibitions, and tourism). In order to maintain the level of activity and to prevent the line of transmission from being broken, the young need to be stimulated, and the heritage should be promoted.

Nowadays, a large collection of Aubusson tapestries can be found at the Museum of the Cité internationale de la tapesserie (Cité de la tapisserie Internationale) in Aubusson which opened in 2016.

References

(https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/aubusson-tapestry-00250) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubusson_tapestry)


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