Beschreibung:

TRAVELLERS, 1948 Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Signature: signed in the weave lower right Medium: Aubusson tapestry, Atelier Tabard Frères et Soeurs, France; (from an edition of 9) Dimensions: 70¼ x 39¼in. (178.44 x 99.70cm) Provenance: Collection of George and Maura McClelland Exhibited: Literature: The Hunter Gatherer - The Collection of George and Maura McClelland, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2004, p.88 (full page illustration) In the years 1945-50, Louis le Brocquy was particularly drawn to the subject of Travellers, producing a substantial range of artworks - paintings, sketches and tapestries - exploring various aspects o... of the theme. As an artist, le Brocquy felt an affinity with the 'outsider' status of travellers, empathising with their exclusion from settled society, and admiring what he saw as their closeness to nature and lack of inhibition as well as their peripatetic, independent lifestyle. He was fascinated too by their rituals, and the symbolism like a secret language, conveyed through marks and arrangements of sticks. Le Brocquy had a special regard for strong female figures, and often spoke of how his mother Sybil set an important example for him, not least by bringing him as a child to witness the poverty of parts of the city. (1) Le Brocquy's admiration for maternal figures extended also to the women of the Traveller community, addressed in a number of his artworks, including the iconic painting Travelling Woman with Newspaper (1947-8), and the present tapestry Travellers (1948), which is understood to be the first of the tapestry series. (2) The artist explained that when he was based at Tullamore to carry out a private commission, he took the opportunity to observe and to sketch the travellers encamped nearby and noted in particular the role of women within the community. (3) In his tapestry designs of the 1940s and 50s, carried out by Atelier Tabard Frères et Souers at Aubusson, le Brocquy drew on his knowledge of classical mythology, and several examples involve the symbolism of the sun and the moon. Invoked in the writings of various philosophers who influenced Modernist thinking, the sun or Apollo, was associated with reason and logic, while the moon, typically personified by the huntress goddess Diana, could signify earthy nature and human emotion. As with many Modernist artists of the time, le Brocquy was interested in oppositions. In the Travellers tapestry, the crescent moon appears in the upper left of the image, and is reflected in the curls of the woman's hair and also in the patterning on her chemise. The woman is flanked on one side by the faun-like figure of a male, who clasps her arm, and on the other by a naked child clutched to her hip. This composition indicates something of the woman's prescribed role in the family at that time. She is presented as confined but also pivotal, providing the focal point of the image. Le Brocquy was aware of contemporary developments in art, and while the influence of Picasso and of Lurçat have been detected in the Travellers tapestry in terms of both aesthetic and design, this work is arguably as significant for demonstrating le Brocquy's interest in contemporary allegory, here relating Modernist philosophy and classical mythological symbolism to the rituals and way of life he observed as a local phenomenon in Ireland at the time. Dr. Yvonne Scott August 2016 1. Author in conversation with Louis le Brocquy various dates. 2. Dorothy Walker 'Le Brocquy's Tapestries' in Louis le Brocquy Aubusson Tapestries, London (2001), unpaginated. 3. Yvonne Scott, 'Louis le Brocquy, Allegory and Legend' in Louis le Brocquy Allegory and Legend, Limerick (2006), pp.11-25. [ABSTRACTS] more