Introduction

Tapestry is one of the earliest woven textile crafts, generally made on a vertical loom. It’s generally characterized by a weaving technique in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike the case with cloth weaving where both the warp. As a form of art, tapestry bears a close relation to painting – it is a pictorial art and often done on a large scale.

History about Tapestry

Most tapestries have been used for millennia with some reports about tapestry art going back to Hellenistic times. However, its very true artistic potential was not released until the early 14th century AD when the first wave of creative production occurred in Germany and Switzerland. Over the period of time, the craft slowly expanded to France and the Netherlands, and, interestingly, the basic tools of tapestry-making remained much the same throughout the years, even to this day.

Masters of Tapestries

What distinguishes the contemporary field of amazing tapestry art from its pre-World War ll variant is the predominance of the artist as a weaver. This popular trend has its initial roots in France during the 1950s where the aforementioned Jean Lurcat, a cartoonist for the Aubusson Tapestry studios, spearheaded a revival of the medium by making a tapestry series from a Biennial held in Lausanne. With every Biennale since then, the popularity of tapestry works grew, as artists, we’re focusing on exploring innovative constructions from a wide variety of fibers.

Gavin Turk Tapestry

Gavin Turk is a very well-renowned British artist considered to be one of the most intriguing of all the Young British Artists. Turk deals with matters of authenticity and identity, issues he engages with modernist and avant-garde debates. Yet, he was not initially interested in creating tapestries, Gavin Turk became inspired by Alighiero Boetti, an Italian artist who created an embroidery of the world map with each country made from its flag.

Peter Blake Tapestry Art

Peter Blake, the Godfather of British Pop Art, is widely known for co-creating the sleeve design for the Beatles’ iconic album St. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Tapestry art may not be his primary method of art-making, but the artist still displayed his mastery over this traditional technique. They are an output of his fascination with American advertisements and pop culture.

Grayson Perry Tapestry

Grayson Perry is a British, recognized for his ceramic vases and tapestries with unique stylistic characteristics. Perry’s unique pieces are often decorated with classical forms and are adorned in bright colors. The most popular tapestry series of his to date is, titled The Vanity of Small Differences, which has a lot to say about politics and how class defines the way we dress and decorate our houses. This amazing series of six large-scale tapestries explored the British fascination with taste and class, while Grayson Perry proved once again why he was a worthy receiver of the Turner Prize.

Kara Walker Tapestry

Kara Walker is a famous African American painter, silhouettist, print-maker, installation artist, and film-maker whose pieces are considered to be some of the most daring works of art the contemporary scene has in its arsenal. A mistress of collage, she is known for her black-and-white silhouette works that invoke themes of African American racial identity, often focusing on scenes of slavery, conflict, or violence.

Beatriz Milhazes Tapestry

Beatriz Milhazes is a famous Brazilian artist and one of her nation’s most renowned contemporary authors. She is popularly known for her colorful abstract work which masterfully juxtaposes Brazilian cultural imagery and also references western modernist painting techniques. Tapestry art is very far from her main creative outlet, Milhazes has been popularly known to create tapestries from time to time, especially in recent years. It is the case with her mind-blowing paintings, colorful floral imagery pervades the tapestry compositions and many of them feature circular mandala-like patterns that became a trademark of Beatriz Milhazes over time.

Erin M. Riley Tapestry

Erin M. Riley is a Brooklyn-based tapestry expert whose work essentially focuses on women and female issues by getting the absolute most out of hand-woven dyed wool tapestries. Also, she is the only artist on this shortlist that dedicates the entirety of her efforts to tapestry art. She relies on a fairly traditional technique; Riley’s themes are very contemporary. And often very grim, as well. She loves to depict heroin kits, car crashes, and similar imagery.

Conclusion

Also, some of the best tapestries were designed by artists who were renowned painters, so it would appear that there’s not much sense in denying the tapestry’s artistic aspects. Although tapestry art was often overlooked as many saw it either as mere copies of paintings or nothing more than interior furnishings.