I. Concepts & techniques: Tapestry & Fiberart.

 

I.  Concepts & techniques: Tapestry & Fiberart.

 

 



In the twentieth century occured the process of evolution and transformation from Tapestry to Fiberart: after the first phase of small plane works, the Tapestries became murals. In the 1960´s, Le Corbusier defined those murals as Wool Walls [Murs de laine]; this had much to do with the transformation that started to occur after the 1st International Biennial of Tapestry [BIT], organized by Jean Lurçat (Lausanne, Switzerland, 1962-). The minimum dimensions for accepted tapestries in this BIT were 10 m2: took15 years to the acceptance of works with 5 m2.

After that, the tapestries started to gain volume, but still placed on the wall. In this process, the artist became the artisan: this began in the Bauhaus, in the textile classes of the German school (Weimar, Dessau, Berlin, 1919-1933). The Bauhaus student Guntha Stadler-Stölzl (1897-1983), born in Munich, studied in the Kunstgewerbeschule (1914-1916); after the First World War she participated in the Bauhaus courses of weaving in the Krefeld School of Textile Technique and in the School of Dying (1919-1924). From the beginning of 1925, to the beginning of 1931, Stadler-Stölzl was the Master of the Textile Workshop in the Bauhaus (1926), then director of the Apprentice’s Workshop and responsible for the Textile Production Workshop (1927-1930) in the German school (HERZOGENRATH, 1974: 244).

Annie Albers (1899-1994), Textile Designer and Teacher, was a student of Guntha Stadler-Stölzl in the Weimar and Dessau Bauhaus (1922-1930). She married the teacher of the Bauhaus Basic Course [Vorkurs], Josef Albers (1888-1976), and they collaborated during the 51 years of their marriage (1925-1976). Both became very important teachers, and, after they emigrated to the United States became professors in the most important art school for the formation of the American Avant Garde, the Black Mountain College (NC, 1942-1956). Josef and Annie Albers, became Americans (1937). Annie was recognized for her research in the field of experimental textiles, as a teacher, an artist and designer of industrial products (HERZOGENRATH, 1974: 240).
 

The Bauhaus abstract and geometric style influenced the beginning of many careers of Fiberartists, like mine; also, later, this influence could be felt in other artist’s works such as in Ernesto Aroztegui’s pupil, Marina Overmeer (São Paulo, 1941-), among many others Brazilian and international artists.