Day trips by train
Tulle II (poinct de Tulle)
‘Né de l’alliance d’une broderie comportant plusieurs points et d’un réseau à mailles carrées, le poinct de Tulle est une dentelle ferme et consistante, riche par sa matière et par le travail, en même temps que solide.’1
‘Poinct de Tulle’ (needle-point lace) is a combination of embroidery and its square ‘fishnet’ knotted mesh support. When the original hand knotted mesh is used it accentuates the embroidery on a slightly pecked background.
This post is an elaboration on the earlier Day trips by train: Tulle (I)
The Joel & Son Fabrics (UK) website describes it as ‘fabric is a lightweight, extremely fine man-made netting, originating in the city of Tulle in Southern France.’ It offers a wide variety, including its Swarovski Crystal Ivory Stretch Tulle (at €191,95/ meter). ‘Our luxury tulle, guipure lace, wool and bouclé fabrics are covered in tiny cut Swarovski crystals which are ideal for adding sparkle to your bespoke tailored outfit’ ...and are made in Italy(?).2
Glamour senior fashion editor Tchesmeni Leonard seems to have said "Tulle has been at the center of a lot of fashion trends for 2022—ballet-core, cottage-core, etc. —so it's no surprise that it's expected to be big for 2023." Other websites describe Tulle as extremely versatile and to have a multitude of uses3. ‘Whether you're creating stunning wedding decorations, a dreamy bed canopy, or an elegant evening dress’. The ribbon room offers Coloured Nylon Tulle Fabric ribbon on 10 Metre Rolls for just € 1,55.4 Colbert will turn in his grave!
Jean-Baptiste Colbert served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. He had lasting impact by using the court of Louis XIV to promote french products, ordering local producers ‘to imitate and thereby eliminate’ foreign fabrics, and thus keep all profits from haute couture in French pockets.
Haute couture depended on highly labor-intensive detailing, any surface not embroidered was sheathed in lace. Fans, gloves, skirts; ‘luxe-on-luxe’ and ‘far too much makes perfect sense’, for Colbert more was also more – as long as the deliriously expensive fabrics were made in France.5
When, in 1683 (!), the court was informed that working women had caught on to a fashion trend, and were dressing in cheap knock-off fabrics made in China, Colbert responded by making the sale of Oriental imports illegal. The 17th and 18th centuries were major consumers of lace. The Tulle workshops provided Paris with trimmings, lapels, cuffs, ties, gloves and headdresses.
In the first half of the 18th century, lace seemed to disappear from Tulle. In 1786 only one lace maker appears in the archive. Under the Revolution, the wearing of lace was not recommended, and that put an end to the industry in Tulle. In 1811 an inventory of France was made and in the Correze chapter can be read:
‘We also made a lot, in the past, of this kind of lace, of which fashion of Paris made such great use, and which they called plissé de Tulle or quite simply Tulle. But this industry is almost lost in the country where it seems to have originated. There are only a few former nuns left who preserve the tradition.’ 6
From this core the skill managed to be preserved and spread into the population as a handcraft for home use. It was only after the end of the first Word War (1914-18) the Ecole des Veuves de guerre (War Widows School) was created. Between 1921 they had some success at international exhibitions, winning prizes and medals, but their atelier closed in 1933.
In 1983, under the leadership of the curator of the Musée du Cloître, a Point de Tulle branch of the Association of Friends of the Museum was created and still run by a group of friendly ladies who run a small workshop just next door. They initially learned from Mme Delmas-Marthon. Her mother had attended the atelier and initiated her daughters, one of them, she never stopped lacing, preserving the techniques from oblivion for 60 years.
The Association Diffusion Renouveau Poinct Tulle was formed to not only preserve the traditional uses, but to also develop creative new uses, ‘alone or associated with other techniques and combined with other materials, aiming to produce works of art and prestige’7 (… and Colbert can turn himself back).
The 2019 exhibition Rosa, Rosel … un florilège de fleurs et de dentelle (Rosa, Rosel... an anthology of flowers and lace) was the result of the artist Annie Bascoul's residency in Tulle, in a double collaboration (besides the association), with the professional lace-maker Sylvie Velghe. Annie Bascoul, had already worked with the Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle d’Alençon (2010) and the Musée de la Dentelle et des Broderies de Caudry (2012).
Annie devoted the initial period of her residency (2018) to her initiation to Poinct de Tulle, thus discovering, through practice, the constraints and technical specifications of this needle lace. Seduced by the finesse and beauty of the network, which also constitutes the soul of this lace, she quickly confronted the extent of the time necessary for its creation and therefore the impossibility of making it herself all of the works within the allotted time of the residency. She then focused on learning the different embroidery stitches to create several works presented.8
An exemple of the parnership with the association was the work Bouquet de Tulle (2019) of which:
‘The flowers were made by the lace makers according to the models that I provided, they then chose the stitches to embroider. Each flower has its support made from a set of crosses in biodegradable polymer (PLA), in space these crosses evoke the net (rosel) on which the points are embroidered.’9
The exhibition we visited Poincts en suspension (2021) was an enriched version of the 2019 exhibition (our guess is the residency program had been suspended during COVID providing a Merveilleux Prétexte for the exhibition) and added some earlier works, as well as, some works produced since her residency. The exhibition was very diverse with some very large installations, and smaller sculpted works.
Several artists have been invited through residencies to create unique works to; ‘bear witness to generations to come of the fertile dialogue between historical know-how and contemporary creation’ including Annie Bascoul, Franck Claudon, Marie-Dominique Guibal, Delphine Ciavaldini, Cécile Maulini, Delphine Dewachter, Katherine Pradeau. As well as Brigitte Paillet, Anne Berthier and Laurent Corio outside the regular residency.
In 2022 an evaluation of the residencies was undertaken. For some reason the impact on the association was evaluated, not the impact on the artists or impact of the artworks. It was observed that: ‘All these non-professionals are now retired, which seems to be the necessary condition for regular practice. It was noted that ‘the average age of lace-makers is over 70 years old, and their psychosocial representations, or even their receptivity to residences, is possibly impacted.’10
The objective of the sharing of ancestral techniques with contemporary artists, is about promoting the evolution of practices and creativity, therefore the emancipation of inherited models. The lace-makers, rightly, indicated that evaluation of the impact should be carried out among the artists. The discovery and learning of the Poinct de Tulle technique by artists is what the project is about, though; ‘Three-quarters will never do this work again. There are some who have learned. Yet, we never saw them again. We don't know if they continued.’
After visiting the exhibition we were positively surprised by the possibilities, something a visit to the workshop would not have been able to do (as the work there remains ‘very traditional’). But what do you expect? The best to expect is the lace-makers share their skills with more people (and have a good time doing so). A younger generation will either continue, or use them in a different way. It cannot be the objective to turn the over 70’s into modern artists or hip entrepreneurs.
‘Born from the combination of embroidery comprising several points and a square mesh network, Tulle point is a firm and consistent lace, rich in its material and work, at the same time as solid.’
Delmas-Marthon S., 1990. Le poinct de Tulle. Éditions Maugein Tulle. ISSN 0758-8534
DeJean J., 2005. The essence of Style, How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour. Simon & Schuster, Free Press. ISBN 978 0 7432 6413 6
Delmas-Marthon S., 1990. Le poinct de Tulle. Éditions Maugein Tulle. ISSN 0758-8534
Critique by Marine Laplaud as accessed through: https://www.anniebascoul.com/copie-de-critique9
Bascoul A., 2021. Exhibition Poincts en suspension, Oeuvres d’Annie Bascoul. Exposition du 18 mai au 19 septembre 2021. L Cour des Arts et Merveilleux Prétexte. Musée du Cloître, Tulle (France).
Christophe D., 2022. . Des résidences d’artistes pour faire évoluer les pratiques dentellières en Pays de Tulle. Pour une praxis des territoires oubliés – Freire hoje, Freire hoy, ENSFEA, Oct 2022, Toulouse, France. hal-03833862. As accessed through: https://hal.science/hal-03833862/document