Eden is the title of the 1952 tapestry by Louis le Brocquy from the sale of Important Irish Art at James Adam in Dublin this evening (September 27). Lot 12 is estimated at €25,000-€35,000. According to the catalogue note the artist was approached by Edinburgh Tapestry Weavers in 1948. They wanted him to design a tapestry. Interested in how colour could convey emotion and the pure colour of tapestry could convey this he complied. He created his own detailed, precisely colour-coded patterns, or linear templates, a pre-Renaissance technique learned from Jean Lurçat. Le Brocquy created several series of tapestries with Edinburgh and with Aubusson in France andthe Eden series spans both studios. The woman’s heel on the upper right refers to the divine pronouncement that the serpent, blamed by her for her fall from grace, will bruise her heel – though she will crush it.
In his catalogue note Aidan Dunne states: “The dazzling, twisting form of the snake suggests that the artist takes a more uplifting view of the possibilities presented by the tree of knowledge, and the dawning of human consciousness and imagination, than religious judgement might decree.” This tapestry is from an edition of nine by Atelier Tabard Frères & Soeurs.