To My Only Desire

 Last week, on my favorite blog BoingBoing, I came across a post about artist Joey Syta who has spent two years creating a one third size replica of the À Mon Seul Désir panel of The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, ALL IN Lite-Brites -- approximately 55,000 pegs.  This happens to be my very favorite tapestry in the world, one that I stop in and commune with whenever I'm in Paris.  It's in a fabulous round room at the Musée National du Moyen Âge (aka the Cluny Museum) in the Latin Quarter.


Here is the original:

À Mon Seul Désir (written on tent)

This panel is the sixth (or the first?) in series of tapestries made in the fifteenth century which were rediscovered in France in the early 18th century (purportedly by George Sand).   Much ink has been spilled in the years since trying to decipher the meaning of this tapestry.  The other five are now universally agreed to represent the five senses (see below).....but what of the last tapestry?  What is her desire?  The unicorn?  or a closer union with the heavenly father?  In that case is she renouncing earthly (sensual) pleasures, symbolically indicated by the placement of her necklace (worn in the previous five panels) into a box?  This seems to be the reigning interpretation at the moment, that freedom from the passions of the senses would ensure proper (aka moral) behavior.....Liberium arbitrium, so to speak.

However, I have my own interpretation.  I think the lady is telling her lover (symbolized by the unicorn of course) that she is ready to give herself completely to him, embracing all the senses.  The blue tent stands as a medieval "love shack" and the lady is actually beginning to disrobe (and as every woman knows, the first thing you do is take off your jewelry).

What do you think?  The thing I can't figure out is why William Morris never wrote about these tapestries (or did he? anyone?).  He had to have known about them --- not only did numerous writers write about them (Sand, Rilke, Cocteau...), Morris was clearly also an expert in the field of medieval tapestry.  I'm surprised he didn't write a book about them.

note added 1/29/10:  It was pointed out to me today that my hypothesis does not explain the presence of the lion in each tapestry and is therefore incomplete.  I agree.  I will continue to ponder the significance of the lion as I pursue my Grand Unified Theory (GUT) of the Unicorn Tapestries.

 

smell (making wreath of flowers/monkey smells flower)

 

hearing (lady playing organ)

 

sight (unicorn looks at his reflection in mirror)

 touch (lady gently touches unicorn's horn)

 

 

taste (lady eats sweets)

P.S. while we're on the subject of tapestries: here is a link to an article about contemporary artists working in the medium of tapestries that was in the NY Times yesterday.

"Vote Alan Measles for God" (2008), Grayson Perry

Lee Rheeza, craftswoman & national treasure

a patchwork ramie Hanbok

unbleached ramie Hanbok

traditional bojagi, wrapping cloth

 

another bojagi (these two look like they were made of silk...i couldn't read the korean labels)

traditional 20th century loom -- even in the stores ~18 in. still seems to be the typical width of a bolt of cloth.

dyed ramie

an antique bojagi, "log cabin" style

Patchwork is another traditional craft in Korea and is typically used to make bojagi, a wrapping cloth used for wrapping gifts, groceries, your stuff, etc.  Lee Rheeza, the Korean equivalent of Oscar de La Renta, has been making Hanbok, the traditional Korean clothing for women, for over forty years and currently has a retrospective at the National Folk Museum of Korea.  In the last ten years, she started experimenting with making Hanbok out of patchwork, combining two great Korean craft traditions that go back over five hundred years.

Mughal Empire Florals at the V&A

 floorspread, painted and dyed cotton, late 17th-early18th cent.

 tent hanging, printed painted and dyed cotton, early 18th cent.

 hanging, silk embroidered cotton, c. 1650-1700

tent hanging, velvet stamped with gold paint, 18th cent.

tent hanging, printed painted dyed cotton, late 18th cent.

carpet, wool warp, cotton and silk weft, wool pile, 17th cent.

It is well-known that Morris was inspired by Islamic art (see, for instance, this post).  The above pieces are all from the Islamic Mughal Empire that ruled the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the mid-19th centuries.  They are also all in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and featured in their new box set V&A Pattern (these being from the "Indian Florals" volume).  Who knows, maybe Morris had a hand in acquiring these specific pieces?!  According to E.P. Thompson's book William Morris - Romantic to Revolutionary, he was often consulted by the museum curators when they were considering expensive purchases of textiles or tapestries.  Certainly Morris would have studied Mughal textiles.  He was a leading scholar of the decorative arts and felt there could be no division between study and practice--he considered the South Kensingtion Museum (now the V&A) to be his personal playground and once remarked "perhaps I have used it as much as any man living".

Amish Quilts at the de Young Museum

 

 The exhibit catalog

After all the glitz of King Tut it was great to go upstairs for a little "comfort" art -- almost fifty Amish quilts from the late 19th and early 20th century.  Like in the Tut exhibit, I was again struck by how modern these pieces looked even though some were over a hundred years old.  This special exhibition is titled "Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown" and it will be on display until June 6, 2010.  Great gift shop stuff!

H. H. Richardson meets book artist Angela Liguori

click to enlarge

 

Two nights ago I went to a "trunk show" hosted by artist Susy Pilgrim Waters that showcased the work of numerous talented local (Boston area) artists.  I particularly liked the work of book artist Angela Liguori, a Roman who creates beautiful pieces with paper, ink and binding.  I bought some cards made with vintage stamps featuring H. H. Richardson (see posts here and here) and another 19th century architectural star, Frank Furness.

Here are a few more examples of Angela's work from her website.

 

Angela also had an incredible collection of beautifully textured and colored ribbon, tapes, and twine for sale that she imports from Italy.  While talking with her I discovered she wrote the guide to Rome on Design*Sponge that I had coincidentally printed out months earlier (it lists artist supply and fabric shops in Rome).

Finally, here's a link to Angela's Etsy shop.

 

Along the silk road....

Yesterday's post reminded me of a visit to an Anatolian rug factory a number of years back where I saw a demonstration of how silk thread is made.  It starts with hundreds of cocoons of mulberry silkworms that are soaked in a vat of water to soften them up.  The dead worm can be heard rattling inside the cocoon if you shake it (silk-wearing vegans take note).  After the cocoon gum softens, a "threader" will use a whisk to "grab" the ends of silk threads off the cocoons and drape the filaments onto a reeling machine.  It seems like this should be really difficult but it happens quite easily.  A single cocoon can give up to 1500 m (almost a mile!) of filament, 4 to 18 strands of which are then twisted together to make a silk thread.

The finished product, a Hereke silk rug with the one of the highest knot counts in the world (wish I had written down the number).  The photo doesn't do the spectral vibrancy of this carpet justice.   This is a rug connoisseurs put on their wall.

Some magic carpets

 ...designed by Wm Morris:

Bullerswood Carpet (detail), 1889

 

Holland Park carpet (detail), 1883

The Redcar carpet, c1880

Drawing Room at Standen with Morris carpet

And, in Morris's own home.....

Kelmscott House dining room decorated with a Persian carpet hung on the wall (photograph taken in the late 1890s)

These last two photos were taken from a lovely book called William Morris Decor and Design by Elizabeth Wilhide.

Some modern-day high end merchants of Morris design carpets: Burrows and Co. and English Wilton.

And on the other end, a good place to find some inexpensive "Arts and Crafty" alternatives: e.g., the McIntosh, Willington, Bishop, and Karaman rugs, among others.....