‘Homage to Carl Emmanuel Bach’ 2003, Jørn Utzon, woven at the ATW by Cheryl Thornton, Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce and Milena Paplinska, in situ at the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House. Photograph: John Gollings AM.
‘Wamungu - My Mother’s Country’ 1996, Ginger Riley, woven at the ATW by Merrill Dumbrell, Irja West, Mark Thrush, Amanda Markey, Claudia Lo Priore, Milena Paplinska, in situ at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra. Photograph: John G
'Morning Star' 2017, Charles Green & Lyndell Brown, woven at the ATW by Pamela Joyce, Leonie Bessant, Chris Cochius, Jennifer Sharpe, Cheryl Thornton, David Cochrane and Pierre Bureau, in situ at the Sir John Monash Centre, Villers-Bretonneux, 2018.

Tapestry x Architecture

 

‘Significant wall hangings have been created around the world and used in a myriad of configurations for functional, decorative, celebratory and didactic purposes, with a clear knowledge of their ‘other’ underlying capacity to modify thermal and acoustic conditions within interior built space. Tapestries have ranged from monumental formats in great public and private buildings down to small-scale, intimate works for personal enjoyment. Often underpinned by great wealth, they have been traded and presented as gifts to leaders for hundreds of years across countries and societies. They show enormous scope, having been used for traditional designs employing historical and mythical themes, to being utilised as a preferred medium by avant-garde architects and artists at the beginnings of the modern movement in Europe.’

–  Peter Williams AM, 2015

Modernist masters led the revival of tapestries to decorate the new architecture around the world. With that came a vigorous study and newly focused appreciation of the historical and technical craftsmanship of tapestry. Le Corbusier called tapestry “the mural of the modern age” and incorporated them into many of his buildings, such as the striking Palace of Justice in Chandigarh, India. National legislatures in Canberra and Brasilia feature monumental tapestries. In 1973, Oscar Niemeyer collaborated with landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx for a tapestry in Brazil’s Congresso Nacional. Mitchell Giurgola Thorpe worked with artist Arthur Boyd for the Great Hall tapestry woven by the ATW for Australia’s Parliament House.  For Australia Square, Vienesse émigré modernist Harry Seidler incorporated tapestries by Le Corbusier, Calder, Miro and Olsen. When designing the Sydney Opera House, Jørn Utzon commissioned Le Corbusier’s ‘Les Dés Sont Jetés’, but it was 55 years until the tapestry was hung as intended. In 2003, another tapestry, this time one of his own design, was realised with the ATW weaving ‘Homage to Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach’ for the Utzon Room. 

Image 1: ‘Homage to Carl Emmanuel Bach’ 2003, Jørn Utzon, woven at the ATW by Cheryl Thornton, Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce and Milena Paplinska, in situ at the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House. Photograph: John Gollings AM.

Image 2: ‘Wamungu - My Mother’s Country’ 1996, Ginger Riley, woven at the ATW by Merrill Dumbrell, Irja West, Mark Thrush, Amanda Markey, Claudia Lo Priore, Milena Paplinska, in situ at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra. Photograph: John Gollings AM.

Image 3: 'Morning Star' 2017, Charles Green & Lyndell Brown, woven at the ATW by Pamela Joyce, Leonie Bessant, Chris Cochius, Jennifer Sharpe, Cheryl Thornton, David Cochrane and Pierre Bureau, in situ at the Sir John Monash Centre, Villers-Bretonneux, 2018. Photograph: John Gollings AM.