The idea has been in the air for many years. But unfortunately it has not had a truly concrete resonance, neither in the vast majority of Art history books nor in the way of presenting the collections of most art museums in the West. The links between textile arts and abstract art, however, no longer need to be demonstrated. And even if many art historians have debated it in their courses or their writings, the more official recognition by the dominant discourse of these intertwinings has not been completely achieved. This is all the more disturbing since this exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, entitled Intertwined stories. Textiles and modern abstractionis not the first to look into the subject…
Because there was already Wall Hangingsat MoMA in New York, in 1969, exhibition developed by Mildred Constantine — curator of graphic design in the architecture and design section at MoMA — and by Jack Lenor Larsen — textile designer —, who was devoted to the work of “weavers of contemporary art”. The presentation on display these days in Ottawa owes a lot to him, if only by the presence of seven artists repeating this significant event which took place 55 years ago! We find there Sheila Hicks, Gunta Stölzl, Kay Sekimachi, Olga de Amaral, Ed Rossbach, Lenore Tawney and Anni Albers. This 1969 exhibition also included Mariette Rousseau-Vermette (1926-2006), a Quebec artist presented with a single work in Ottawa, The blaze (1963), a work that is not found in the catalog, because it is exhibited separately in the permanent collection…
So, here is once again a large-scale exhibition, even larger than the one developed in the 1960s, with “130 works by more than 45 creators”, attempting to challenge the dominant discourse on the place of the arts textiles in the narrative of modern art history. A subject which is of great importance, because it challenges the traditional distinction made between art and craft. A subject which challenges the discrimination made between, on the one hand, a great innovative abstract art, the result of a historical evolution, an abstract art which would have been above all created by men, and, on the other hand, an inferior ornamental art which would have simply repeated patterns and traditions, an art mainly made by women. Moreover, these textile works, in many museums, are often placed, even today, in the decorative arts section.
However, the dividing line is not so simple. How, for example, can we talk about Robert Rauschenberg and his famous Bed (1955), one of his most celebrated works, without seeing the obvious, the place that the textile arts, including that of quilting, had in his thinking… And this is only one example among many others. We would also have liked this exhibition to include a section visually establishing the links between this celebrated, classified abstract art and the textile arts. Could we not have compared the works of Anni Albers to other creations from the Bauhaus, an art school for which there was no difference between artist and craftsman?
There are exceptional works by Marisa Merz, Rosemarie Trockel, Agnes Martin, François Rouan, Gego… Let’s hope that this important exhibition, developed by Lynne Cooke, senior curator of the modern and contemporary art section of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, has a certain impact on the way of classifying and exhibiting modern art…
To watch on video
Canada
