Provenance: Commissioned for the liner Paquebot Antilles.

Paule Leleu was taught to design by her father, Jules Leleu (1883-1961), the artist designer and head of the family decoration business. She became an apprentice when her father contracted carpets from Ivan da Silva Bruhns and her early work shows the influence of Bruhns in colour, design and motifs. In 1937, after the contract had ended, Paule joined her father and designed all the firm’s carpets in her own style.

Her commissions ranged from palaces (Elysée Palace), to ocean liners (Atlantic, Normandy, Antilles, Pierre Loti) and there are examples in the Mobilier National, the Musée d’art Moderne in Paris and in numerous American museums.

The present carpet was commissioned for the Grand Salon of the liner Paquebot Antilles from the firm of Leleu who also supplied the furnishingsand decoration. The original drawing of this carpet is in the Leleu archives,and the carpet was exhibited in the exhibition of Paquebots de Legende at the National Marine Museum, Paris, in 1992.

Literature

Susan Day, Art Deco and Modernist Carpets,Thames & Hudson, 2002, p204.

J.Sirat and F. Siriex, Le XXe Siecle au Tapis, edition de l’Albaron, 1991, p88, pl35.

J.Sirat and F.Siriex, Tapis Francais du XXe Siecle, editions de l’Amateur, 1993, p184, pl 189 (illustrated).