The great exhibition of modern industrial art held in Paris during the summer of 1925 showed that there is still a healthy vitality from the workers' point of view. Sound work was shown by several European countries. The panels exhibited by the Gobelins and Beauvais factories were unsurpassed in scope, as well as in technical mastery. Indeed they were worthy of a tradi tion of two centuries during which these factories have been maintained by the State. Themes of national interest were set in hand upon the restoration of peace. The subject of one large panel was the Entry of the Americans into the war, and another was entitled "Verdun and Victory." Furniture-upholstery showed ships, aeroplanes, infantrymen leaving the plough, cannon and military trophies. The Aubusson factories exhibited a panel showing an ironclad steaming into an African port. A panel woven at Felletin, "the Garden of Eden," was a sort of "verdure" in vivid modern colours. These panels can only be regarded as exceptional products of the industry, rendered possible by State subvention or brought about by the special circumstances of a great exhibi tion.
In Austria tapestry-weaving is taught in the school of arts applied to industry at Vienna, and tapestries woven by pupils were shown at Paris. A remarkable series of panels, entitled allegories of the arts and crafts, has been woven in Czechoslovakia for the palace of the president of the republic. In Scandinavia and Fin land panels of a formal and decorative type, mostly of moderate size, continue the tradition of earlier times.
A factory was inaugurated at Heverle near Louvain in Belgium, with the concurrence of the minister of industry and labour, early in the year 1905. Spain and Italy each have a factory still at work with a career of two centuries behind it—that of Santa Barbara at Madrid and of San Michele at Rome. Tapestry-weaving has also been going on in Florence during recent years.
In England, the factory set up at Windsor in the year 1876 lasted for io or I I years ; the weavers were mostly from France, and the French tradition was followed, though contemporary Eng lish designs were reproduced. About the same time William Morris started tapestry-weaving at Merton abbey. The aim was to revive the mediaeval tradition, and to bring this effort into association with the movement that gave such distinction to English crafts manship and literature at the time. Among the subjects of the panels woven there, perhaps the series of the Holy Grail is the most famous. A set of four tapestries of the legend of St. George, part of the war memorial for Eton college, has been completed recently (Plate IX.). These tapestries depart in some degree from the tradition of Merton abbey, recalling Flemish work of the early Renaissance, and involving the preparation of a large number of intermediate tints for the interpretation of the cartoons. Some of
the weavers employed on these panels were disabled soldiers who had received their training under a scheme subsidized by the Gov ernment at the conclusion of the War. The looms set up early in the year 1892 by William Baumgarten at New York, with the assistance of weavers from Aubusson, inaugurated tapestry-weav ing in the United States of America. The result was the installation of a factory at Williainsbridge in the suburbs of the city, where tapestry-weaving is still carried on. In 1911, A. Herter's factory in New York and L. Kleiser's at Edgewater, N.J., were founded.
Tapestry-weaving is more widely spread at the present time than this brief summary would suggest. A good deal of work has been done by private individuals, and in the present state of affairs this practice seems to offer the best hope for its maintenance in the future.
In the year 1587 two arras-workers showed a piece of Arras half cleaned. Well-known weavers in the 17th and 18th centuries, like John Vanderbank, and his successor in the Great Wardrobe, John Ellys, included the lining, mending and cleaning of tapestries in their duties. The skill and experience gained by repairers of old tapestries has been largely responsible for a development giving rise to mixed feelings. Complete panels have been woven from time to time, very skilfully imitating some particular class of old work. Generally these tapestries are relatively small and simple in de sign. It behoves collectors to be on their guard when considering the purchase of tapestries of a class which lends itself to repro duction.
The "tapestries" woven on the Jacquard power loom since the middle of the 19th century need not be described in detail. Their lifeless uniformity renders them unmistakable, and their cheapness is their only commendable quality. (See INTERIOR DECORATION.)