Carpet is usually relegated to the floor, unwittingly trampled on by passers-bys, not hung on a wall displayed as art.
But not all carpet was designed by acclaimed French artist Henri Matisse.
The family of the late Robert Saunders, a former carpet industry exeutive, recently donated a limited edition Matisse-designed rug to the Carpet and Rug Institute in Dalton. Matisse created the pattern, named “Mimosa,” in 1951 for New York-based Alexander Smith Carpets. It was the only design Matisse ever made specifically for carpet.
For years, the 3-by-5 foot rug hung in Saunders’ home office. Today, it hangs in the office of CRI president Werner Braun.
“We all grew up with that rug hanging on the wall and we knew there was something special about it,” said Prudence Pitcock, one of Saunders’ daughters. “It was a limited edition of 500, daddy had always obviously treasured it and it always hung over his desk.”
How Saunders acquired the rug is a mystery to the family. Saunders worked for Alexander Smith Carpets in New York. In 1955, Alexander Smith Carpets merged with Mohawk Carpets to form Mohasco Industries. Pitcock believes the carpet was given to him in the 1950s.
After Saunders passed away in December 2008 at the age of 91, Pitcock and her sisters decided the rug should “go somewhere where it would be appreciated.” A close friend of Saunders, Mac Ryland, got the family in touch with Braun. Because of Saunders’ involvement with the carpet industry and Dalton’s claim as “The Carpet Capital of the World,” Pitock said, “We felt like it would be a perfect match.”
Braun agreed.
“We are honored that the family of Robert Saunders chose the Carpet and Rug Institute to receive this beautiful rug,” Braun said. “Apart from its monetary value, it reminds us all of the potential for beauty and creativity carpets and rugs offer the world.”
An article by Scripps Howard News Service estimated the carpet’s worth between $3,500 and $4,500 for insurance-replacement value.
On a trip to the United States in the early 1950s, company representatives with Alexander Smith Carpets asked Matisse if he was interested in expressing his artistic ability onto carpets. In 1951, Matisse completed the design and Alexander Smith Carpets produced it. At the time of its creation, Matisse said of the rug, “I want to recapture the freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth; when all the world is new.”
The carpet design also made an impact on the art world. Edgar Kaufmann Jr., at the time a design consultant at the New York Museum of Modern Art in New York City, wrote an appreciation of “Mimosa.”
“This trans-Atlantic collaboration required imagination and skills on both sides,” Kaufmann wrote. “The result is an extraordinary work of art in which the resources of modern industry seem effortlessly combined with the exciting, poetic statement of a great artist.”
Saunders began his floorcovering career before World War II. After serving in the war, Saunders resumed his career and served as president of two Mohawk Industries’ subsidiaries in the 1950s. He is credited with helping launch the first large Southern carpet mills for Mohawk: the Dixiana Mills in Dillon, S.C., and the Oak River plant in Bennettsville, S.C. Saunders retired in 1982 as vice president with the Atlanta office of Kurt Salmon Associates, an international consultancy for retail and health care facilities.
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March 28, 2009
Famous French artist’s work now hangs at Dalton’s CRI
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