Since the beginning of the 20th century, weaving and needlework (sewing, embroidery, lace, tapestry and knitting) have left the domestic sphere and appeared in the Art world, particularly within the avant-gardes. European. Mainly used by women artists, they inform many works by the German Bauhaus Anni Albers (1899-1994) and the Swiss constructivist Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) whose estate is managed by the Hauser gallery & Wirth. The American Lenore Tawney (1907-2007) is another of these fiber art pioneers who created innovative woven works starting in the 1960s, challenging the boundaries between fine art and crafts.
A meteoric rise
Long seen as a “utilitarian” artisanal production, textile art has experienced unprecedented popularity since the “Decorum” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2013. Recognized late, the American artist Sheila Hicks (born in 1934 ) has seen its popularity explode since her exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2017. Her unclassifiable works, for which she knots, wraps, folds, twists and stacks wool, linen or brightly colored cotton, are offered between $40,000 and $500,000 at the Frank Elbaz gallery.
Sheila Hicks, Labyrinth of Paradise, 2024, linen, cotton and gold threads, 180 x 160 cm, Frank Elbaz gallery © Claire Dorn/Courtesy Sheila Hicks and Frank Elbaz gallery
The linen, gesso and gold leaf tapestries of the Colombian Olga de Amaral (born in 1932), to whom the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art is currently devoting a retrospective, fetch prices at auction (€276,122 in March 2023). at Sotheby’s). Wall sculptures Sleeping Songs (2018-2019) by Annette Messager (born 1943) – colorful sleeping bags, duvets and hooded down jackets worked like real plastic materials – sell for €60,000 at the Marian Goodman gallery. On the other hand, the “woven murals” by the licière artist Françoise Paressant (born in 1944) are more accessible: between €3,000 and €15,000 at the Chevalier gallery.
Annette Messager, Sleeping Deep Red, 2017-2018, mixed media, quilt, black acrylic paint, string, 170 x 153 x 20 cm, Marian Goodman Gallery © Atelier Annette Messager/Courtesy Annette Messager and Marian Goodman Gallery
Textiles are becoming a medium that is crystallizing a new wave throughout the world with different names depending on the country: fiber art, art fabric, fiberwork, new tapestry. This movement infiltrates the closed environment of contemporary art and generates two approaches: those who from craftsmanship evolved towards art and those who from experimentation with materials arrived at textile art as the predominant choice .
Amélie-Margot Chevaliergallery owner
The reinvention of traditional techniques
Mid-career artists are reappropriating traditional techniques and materials. Yentele (born in 1974), who took the name of her embroiderer grandmother and the thread of her story, paints and embroiders textile paintings with acrylic and Indian ink on old linens (from 1900 to €20,000 at the Armel Soyer gallery). The Argentine Tamara Kostianovsky (born in 1974) creates uprooted tree trunks, animal carcasses and brightly colored birds from recycled textiles (between €5,000 and €180,000 at the RX & Slag gallery).
Tamara Kostianovsky, Tropical Rococo, 2021 and/and Mesmerizing Flesh, 2022, recycled textiles, meat hook, chain, rotary motor, 221 x 53 x 33 cm and 158 x 52 x 30 cm, RX & Slag gallery, “La Flesh du World”, Paris, Museum of Hunting and Nature, 2024 © Théo Pitout/Museum of Hunting and of Nature, Paris, 2024
Represented by Galleria Continua, Éva Jospin (born in 1975) renews her practice of cardboard sculpture by laminating fabric and embroidery onto her forests, caves and architecture. The Portuguese Joana Vasconcelos (born in 1971) creates Crochet Paintings and monumental textile sculptures offered between €10,000 and €850,000 (for a special order) at the La Patinoire royale Bach gallery in Brussels.
Joana Vasconcelos, Swirl, 2016, hand-crocheted wool, ornaments and polyester on canvas, golden embossed frame, plywood, 100 x 100 x 42 cm, gallery La Patinoire royale Bach © Unidade Infinita Projectos
As for Chiharu Shiota (born in 1972), she encompasses ordinary objects in immense wire structures to summon a memory of the absent body. The spectacular sculptures and installations of this Japanese Arachne sell for between €10,000 and €300,000 at the Templon gallery.
5 great auctions
(source: Artprice)
- EL ANATSUI, Prophetmixed media (found aluminum bottle caps, copper wire) – 2012 $2,228,000, 05/15/2023, Christie’s, New York
- MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ, Structure1979 – €203,607 le 23/11/2023, Desa Unicum, Warsaw
- GHADA AMER, A Beautiful Day for Trinitapestry, broderie, gel medium – 2008 $120,650 le 12/03/2024, Phillips, New York
- ANNI ALBERS, Untitledsculpture (pictorial weaving in cotton and fiber) – 1950 $104,500 on 11/11/2009, Christie’s, New York
- ERNESTO NETO, Fruit of Three Dreamsinstallation (nylon, sable, girofle, curcuma) – 2000 76 200 $ le 09/03/2023, Sotheby’s, New York
Textile art at the heart of contemporary creation
A recent phenomenon is the fusion of fiber art with other disciplines among young visual artists. Performer Chloé Bensahel (born 1991) creates poems in woven letters and interactive tapestries that react to touch with light and sound (songs, texts) evoking the history of her Mediterranean diasporic family (between €3,500 and €20,000 at the Odile Ouizeman gallery).
Jeanne Vicerial, view of the “Armors” exhibition, Paris, Templon gallery, 2023 © Adrien Millot/Courtesy Jeanne Vicerial and Templon gallery
Photographer Aurélie Mathigot prints and embroiders her photos on painter’s canvases (from €1,500 to €20,000 at Maison Parisienne). A textile art which increasingly infuses contemporary creation, from the ghostly armor of Jeanne Vicerial (born in 1991, between €8,000 and €45,000 at the Templon gallery) to the compositions embroidered or knotted with black and white threads by Victoria Tanto (born in 1988), offered directly by the artist from €660 to €13,500 on his website.
Chiharu Shiota: The thrills of the soul
