GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — The Jan Rupert Art Centre in Middle Street, Graaff-Reinet, is well-known for once housing the JH Pierneef station panels.
What might not be as well-known is that since these panels were moved to the Rupert Museum in Stellenbosch, the Centre has successfully hosted numerous other collections such as the “Art of the Space Age” exhibition as well as the more recent “Fear and Loss - The Industrial Karoo” which were attended by many locals and visitors alike.
On Thursday evening, May 19, the Centre launched a new, very exciting, exhibition of modern French tapestries by French artist Jean Lurçat (1892 - 1966).
Jean Lurçat was a French artist and weaver credited with bringing tapestries back into contemporary popularity. His works often featured recurring motifs such as nature, animals, and the cosmos, becoming increasingly ambitious and detailed over time.
One of his most famous works, The Eighth Tapestry of the World’s Song (1957–1966), depicts an entire cosmology of ancient world mythical figures. He was born on July 1, 1892 in Bruyeres, France, and studied at the Académie Colarossi where his classmates included Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. In 1915, he participated in his first exhibition in Zürich, and in 1917, completed Filles Vertes and Soirée dans Grenade—his first major tapestry work. During the 1920s, the artist traveled around Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia, making tapestries along the way on commission and becoming one of the first Western artists to exhibit in Soviet Russia. Lurçat died on January 6, 1966 in Saint-Paul de Vence, France.
The architecture of the Jan Rupert Centre lends itself perfectly to an exhibition of these impressive works and while the tapestries dominate the space, a selection of Jean Lurçat’s ceramics adds a further dimension to this comprehensive and representative selection of tapestries.
Visit the Jan Rupert Centre from Mondays to Fridays between 9am and 12.30pm and 2pm and 5pm.
For more information on this exhibition, please call 049 892 6107.
'We bring you the latest Graaff-Reient, Karoo news'
