French artist Anne Deguelle has a long-standing interest in the theme of oriental carpets.
To sleep to dream no more, 2011, Anne Deguelle
This particular fascination resurfaced at the Freud Museum because of Freud’s use of a highly decorative Oriental carpet, a Qashqa’i carpet. This covers Freud’s psychoanalytic couch, still found in his study today.
The exhibition was inspired by and based on Freud’s oriental carpet collection, held at the Freud Museum London. The collection includes over 20 carpets, some of which are still kept in storage. The exhibition gathered these together, presenting them as an art installation. Sortir de leur réserve in French; a play on words meaning ‘to take out of storage’ and also ‘to break through somebody’s reserve’.
Deguelle explored the hidden connections between the world of dreams waiting to be analysed, and the decorative woven language of the rugs. She studied the richness and significance of the patterns found in hand-woven carpets throughout the history of art. She was interested in how rugs, particularly tribal rugs, represent territories, archaeology, and collective memories.
Freud’s affirmed taste for rich and colourful textiles led Deguelle to think about the implications and effects of the intertwining and interlacing of textiles, weaving a web of questions and answers in and around the couch and the complexity of Freud’s fabrics.
Curated by Yvan Poulain
Anne Deguelle at the Freud Museum London, 2011
Related Resources
The catalogue for the exhibition is published by Archibooks and co-published by the Musée départemental du Textile -Conservation départementale – Conseil général du Tarn. It includes essays by Yvan Poulain, Marc Bembekoff and Anne Deguelle.
Anne Deguelle lives and works in Paris and in Aveyron, France. Recent exhibitions include Musée d’art moderne, Bremen (2010); Musée des Augustins,Toulouse (2010); Bibliothèque Sigmund Freud, Paris (2010); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2009) ; Galerie nationale d’Indonésie, Jacarta (2009); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2008); Musée Zadkine, Paris (2008); Musée Calbet, Grisolles (2007); Centre de Photographie de Lectoure (2007); Museu Serralves, Porto (2006); Centre d’art de l’Abbaye de Maubuisson (2005).
This exhibition is made possible due to the generous support of the Centre national des arts plastiques (allocation de recherche) – ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, of the Institut français au Royaume-Uni, of the Conseil général de L’Aveyron and of the Bibliothèque Sigmund Freud, Paris.
Yvan Poulain is a French Curator and Director of the Musée Calbet, Grisolles, France.