Bergi Andonian and Jeffrey Soleimani with one of |
Renaissance's antique tapestry reproductions.

By Lissa Wyman

NEW YORK -- The Metropolitan Museum of Art's current exhibition of Baroque tapestries is being hailed as a re-discovery of the art of pictorial weaving. But Renaissance Carpet & Tapestries has been a champion of the art since the company's founding in 1989.

To read the overview of the exhibition at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art , click here.

Renaissance has revived the art of tapestry making and has re-centered manufacturing in China. Renaissance brought looms from France to China and engaged French master weavers to train up-and-coming Chinese master weavers in the art.

"Our goal is to offer fine tapestries to a new generation of people who want textile art for their home, but would not be able to afford the prohibitive price of European tapestries,"  said Bergi Andonian, vice president of Renaissance.

"There is still some tapestry weaving in Aubusson, France, but for the most part those looms are weaving modern works, and the cost is prohibitive," he explained.

Renaissance's newly-made tapestries are  nearly exclusively reproductions of antiques from the 17th to the 19th Centuries, according to Andonian, who has made it a personal mission to revive the art of fine tapestry, and make it accessible to modern consumers.

"We embarked on a long journey trying to reproduce the very best of antique French Aubusson, Savonnerie and tapestry weaves and offer them to people who can understand and appreciate these art forms," said Andonian.

"We are betting on the fact that a new generation of people will come to understand the greatness of what was designed and woven in the past," he said.

"We want to make tapestry available to a broader audience," said Jeffrey Soleimani, vice president of Renaissance. "Otherwise, it would never be accessible to normal people."

Instead of costing a King's ransom, like the tapestries currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum, most of Renaissance's reproductions retail for approximately $100 to $120 per sq. ft.

In addition to the antique tapestry reproductions, Renaissance also sells other hand knotted rug constructions, which form the majority of the company's business.

Andonian  gave Rugnews.com a personalized seminar on the history of tapestry making and the state of the industry today.

"Many early  tapestries have survived because they were hung on the wall, and they were often a part of the great estates of  royalty and aristocracy. Throughout history, tapestries were commissioned by the wealthiest and most powerful people in Europe. They were far beyond the price range of normal people,"

Tapestry weaving is one of the oldest forms of woven art, and ancient wall hangings have been found in Persia, Greece and Rome dating to the first century of the Common Era.

The golden age of tapestry is generally considered to span the 16th to the 18th Centuries. Artists such as Rubens, David, Raphael, LeBrun and Van den Hoeche were commissioned to design the pieces.

The cartoon, or weaving pattern, was often painted by the artist or members of his workshop. Then the weavers faced the daunting task of transforming paint into thread. In order to do that, skilled artisans sometimes had to make hundreds of thousands of decisions on color. To achieve realistic flesh tones, they often used hundred of shades of color. The state of the art of dyeing the yarn was also a far cry from modern chrome dyes. They developed creative techniques to transform the linear warp threads into the rounded forms of flowers, faces and animals.

"The weavers were just as much a part of the creative process as the artist who designed the tapestry. In fact, many of the finest examples of tapestry are signed by the master weaver," said Andonian.

The the art form  which flourished in the 17th and 18th century, has gone through several revivals in the past two centuries.

 In the late 19th Century, William Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement revived the art of tapestry at England's Merton Abby Studios. In the early 20th Century, Scotland's Dovecot Studios and the German Bauhaus movement championed the art form.

In the  20th Century,  artists such as Matisse, Le Corbusier, Dufy, Frank Stella and Henry Moore have designed tapestries for public spaces, religious institutions and corporate headquarters.

From the Renaissance Gallery of
Antique Tapestry Reproductions

David & Bethsabee

David & Bethsabee, 17th Century Brussels Design

Detail of David & Bethsabee
 

David and Bethsabee is woven after a 16th Century tapestry that originated in Brussels. The tapestry depicts a scene from the biblical story of David and is fashioned in medieval style.

David, despite his low birth as a shepherd, slew the giant Goliath and became King of Israel and poet of the book of Psalms.

The scene depicted in the tapestry is from the Ammonite war. During the war,  David sinned with the wife of his general, Urias, who was later killed. Despite the name of the work, Bethsabee is not depicted in this tapestry.

Coronation of Napoleon I and Josephine

The Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, from
the 19th Century painting by Jacques-Louis David.


Detail from the Coronation of Napoleon I and Josephine.

The Coronation of Napoleon I and Josephine re-creates the famous painting by  court painter Jacques-Louis David. The ambitious original art work took three years to complete. David, who was appointed Premier Peintre de L' empereur in 1804, created a monumental group portrait, with the focal point on Napoleon's coronation of his empress, Josephine.  The harmony of the composition is remarkable, with the figures set on either side of the large central gold cross.

Anymone Rescued from a Satyr by Neptune

Anymone Rescued from a Satyr by Neptune, after a design
by Francois Boucher. This tapestry is fashioned in the 19th Century French Gobelins style.

Detail of Anymone Rescued from a Satyr by Neptune.

This piece is woven after a mid-18th Century design by Francois Boucher for a series of nine tapestries known as Les Amours de Dieux (The Loves of the Gods). Anymone was reproduced  approximately 10 times at the 18th Century French Beauvais factory. Beauvais was established to make tapestries more accessible to wealthy citizens who were not members of the aristocracy. Rather than the one-of-a-kind pieces commissioned by royalty, Beauvais tapestries were meant to be reproduced. Several examples of this tapestry are housed in major European museums, including The Hermitage.

Anymone was so popular that Boucher repeated it for the Gobelins manufacturing facilitiy. the subject was also adapted to the looms at Aubusson, France and produced until the 19th Century.

10.25.07