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Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Cúchulainn Blanc et Rose (1973)
Tabard Frères et Soeurs Aubusson tapestry, 184 x 184cm (72 x 72”)
Signed and numbered 8/9 on the label verso
Provenance: Purchased fromTaylor Gallery, Dublin, 1977, by John P. Reihill, Deepwell, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin
The theme of the Táin, the early Irish epic translated by the poet Thomas Kinsella in 1969 and for
which le Brocquy was commissioned to provide the accompanying black brush drawings, inspired
in the artist a fresh surge of creativity in the realm of tapestry. The word ‘Táin’ means ‘hosting’ or
gathering of a large crowd for a raid and provided the theme for a number of tapestries designed by
the artist.The surface of the tapestry is completely covered in multi-coloured, irregular, oval heads,
all with minute irregular ‘features’and all facing the spectator. Each head exists as a single entity and
does not relate to its neighbour. There is no order, no ranking, yet some inherent, instinctive force
holds them together. In 1970 P.J. Carroll and Co. through their architects Scott Tallon Walker
commissioned the first Táin tapestry from le Brocquy for the foyer of their Dundalk factory, this is
now in the collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
Louis le Brocquy has said “I hope these images fromTáin Bó Cúailnge, transmuted into the woven
forms of tapestry, may be seen as a tribute to the poet Thomas Kinsella, who inspired them and to
the devoted publisher and designer, Liam Miller, who gave their original coherence.”
“In this tapestry I have tried to produce a sort of group or mass emergence of human presence,
features uncertain - merely shadowed blobs or patches - but vaguely analogous perhaps in terms of
woven colour to be weathered, enduring stone boss-heads of Clonfert or Entremont - or of Dysert
O’Dea....” “each individual head is conscious only of the viewer vertically facing it. This I think is
the secret of their mass regard. Each head is self-contained, finally a lump of presence. No exchange
or incident takes place between their multiplied features”.
“All of the Táin tapestries were woven in Aubusson, and in them the artist has contrived a masterly
conjunction between the narrative content of the epic, his own and the ancient Celtic concern of
the head image and the visual architectural demands of a large modern wall hanging.”
We are indebted to the late Dorothy Walker, whose writings formed the basis for this catalogue
entry.
€40,000 - 60,000
