"The Foolish Virgins" - Aubusson Tapestry

"- The Foolish Virgins (Les Vierges Folles) by Marc Saint Saëns
- Aubusson tapestry woven in the Tabard workshop

Jean Lurçat approached Saint-Saëns, originally a painter of murals, in 1940. And during the war the latter produced the first of his allegorical masterpieces, tapestries reflecting indignation, combat, resistance: “les Vierges folles (the foolish virgins), “Thésée et le Minotaure” (Theseus and the Minotaur). At the end of the war, as a natural development he joined up with Lurçat, whose convictions he shared (concerning a simplified palette, outlined cartoons with colors indicated by pre-ordained numbers, and the specific nature of tapestry design…) at the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-cartonniers de Tapisserie). His universe, where the human figure, stretched, elongated, occupies an important place (particularly when compared to his companions Lurçat or Picart le Doux), pivots around traditional themes: woman, the Commedia dell’arte, Greek mythology… refined by the brilliance of the colors and the simplification of the layout. His work would evolve later, in the 1960s, towards cartoons of a more lyrical design, almost abstract where elemental and cosmic forces would dominate."