Rare French Cubist Maison Myrbor Rug by Louis Marcoussis
Maison Myrbor was a French manufacturer and retailer of carpets founded by Marie Cuttoli (1879-1973). The first workshop was set up in her home in Sétif, Algeria, circa 1910, and in 1922 Cuttoli opened a boutique in Paris, selling clothes and later carpets and rugs. She exhibited fashion and carpets at the Exposition Internationale des Art Decoratifs in Paris in 1925. The firm specialised in tapis de mâitres, woven from works by Pablo Picasso, Jean Arp, Fernand Leger, Joan Miró, Paul Klee and Louis Marcoussis among others.
Louis Marcoussis (1878-1941) was a painter of Polish origin who lived in Paris for most of his career. Initially influenced by Impressionism, at around 1910 he joined the Cubist movement alongside other avant-garde painters such as Picasso, Braque and Juan Gris. His work was exhibited in Europe and the U.S.A. and in 1925 he had his first solo exhibition in Paris. Marie Cuttoli was one of his first collectors and exhibited some of his paintings in her Maison Myrbor gallery at 17 Rue Vignon in Paris. Cuttoli was enamoured with Marcoussis’ treatment of Cubist forms and successfully translated some of his works in the rug medium, such as the example offered here.