Galeries des Gobelins

Galeries des Gobelins  is Paris' Tapestry Museum.  We took the tour and were able to see modern day weavers in action.  Because the tapestries are so fragile, there is not a permanent exhibit, but rotating temporary exhibits.  If you go, book the tours so that you can get behind the scenes.

Nice to spend some time with this fabulous Acadian.  While browsing some used books, in La  Galerie Vivienne, we came across a couple of novels featuring Acadia. 

Tenture des Nouvelles Indes: L'Eléphant

D'Après Alexandre-François Desportes

 The Gobelins were a family of dyers who, in the middle of the 15th century, established themselves in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel (fr), Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre. (which now runs underground)

A painting of a future chair cushion

First a model small model would be painted, the next step was a painting the same size as the tapestry.

La sortie de l'Ambassadeur Turc du Jardin des Tuileries, Atelier Lefebvre et Mommerqué, Gobelins, 1734-1737.

Tapestries are woven backwards.  The weavers work from the back of the tapestry and use a mirror to see the model that is hung behind them.  To see the weavers in action and to imagine doing it gave me a headache.

Random and very bad temporary exhibit

  

 Le Brun

In 1662 the works in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, with the adjoining grounds, were purchased by Jean-Baptiste Colbert on behalf of Louis XIV and made into a general upholstery factory, in which designs both in tapestry and in all kinds of furniture were executed under the superintendence of the royal painter, Charles Le Brun, who served as director and chief designer from 1663-1690.  The factory is still a state run institution.

These hooks outside one of the buildings were used to hang tapestries to greet dignitaries, including Lousi XIV.

We were not allowed to take photos on the tour.  This is a poster showing someone weaving a rug.  The rug weavers sit in front and look at the front of their design while they weave.

This is a photo I stole from Wikipedia.  This is a tapestry and the woman in the photo is just checking it out.  The weaver would sit on the other side of the loom.

To become a weaver, you must take a very competitive test after high school and very few interns are chosen.  After four years of interning, you become a government employee.  

There is no market for these tapestries and rugs.  There is a competition for the designs--we saw a moonscape, a cerebral cortex, modern paintings...  Once completed, the rugs go into the national furniture storage where important politicians can choose their furnishings.  Or, they can be used for museum exhibits.

The designs are carefully traced on the strings of the loom before any weaving begins.

Back in the day, when all natural dies were used, yellows and browns faded the fastest and indigo had the most staying power.

Postcards

At the top left, you can see a tapestry in progress and the design copied onto the strings of the loom.  I can't image having the patience to weave a tapestry or a rug.  It is amazing that this art is kept alive.