Louis Le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012) Eden (1952) Aubusson tapestry, 110 x 180cm (431/4 x 703/4

Louis Le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012) Eden (1952) Aubusson tapestry, 110 x 180cm (43¼ x 70¾ ") Atelier Tabard Frères & Soeurs Edition of 9 Provenance: Private Collection, IrelandLiterature: Louis le Brocquy, Aubusson Tapestries, Taylor Galleries, Dublin 2000, Dorothy Walker, Musee Departmental de la Tapisserie, Aubusson, illustratedLouis le Brocquy was well established as one of the leading contemporary artists in Ireland when Edinburgh Tapestry Weavers approached him in 1948 and enquired whether he would like to design a tapestry. At the time, he was particularly interested in how colour could so effectively convey emotion, and it occurred to him that the pure colour of tapestry was an ideal way to explore the question.Because of the nature of his interest, he was reluctant to merely make a source painting or cartoon, as it is called, and trust it to the tapestry-makers, however skilled, to produce a good approximation. Instead, he created his own detailed, precisely colour-coded patterns, or linear templates. This pre-Renaissance technique, which he learned from the great Jean Lurçat, had been largely superseded, but a large part of its appeal for him was that the artist’s intentions were honoured from start to finish in every detail, and it meant that each tapestry was an original work, rather than a copy of a separate, original piece.He proceeded to create several series of tapestries with Edinburgh and with Aubusson in France, as with the present work. His Eden series spans both studios. The woman’s heel on the upper right refers to the divine pronouncement that the serpent, blamed by her for her fall from grace, will bruise her heel - though she will crush it. The dazzling, twisting form of the snake suggests that the artist takes a more uplifting view of the possibilities presented by the tree of knowledge, and the dawning of human consciousness and imagination, than religious judgement might decree.Aidan Dunne, August 2023