Tapisserien in der Villa Abegg

Neumontage in historischem Kontext

Abstract

Tapestries in the Villa Abegg – New mounting in historical context
The Villa Abegg was built in the 1960s as the private residence of the art collectors Werner and Margaret Abegg. The building was from the start conceived to house historic pieces of architecture, furniture and works of art. After the founders’ death the villa was opened to museum visitors in 2003. According to the request of Mr. and Mrs. Abegg the rooms remained unchanged. However, after more than fifty years since the house was built some of the original installations needed to be questioned according to more recent standards of conservation. This included the mounting of several tapestries in the library. The removal of these textile objects from its walls provided an opportunity to study them more closely. A group of three late fifteenth or early sixteenth century Flemish tapestries with plant and animal motifs proved particularly interesting. A detailed study of their patterns contributed to an understanding of their economic production method, the results of which are discussed in the first part of this paper. The new mounting of the tapestries, which had become necessary for reasons of conservation, aimed at integrating them discreetly into their original location. The concave walls of the library in the Villa Abegg as well as the unusual dimensions of the tapestries were a challenge to the conception of a new mounting system. In order to solve this problem the textile conservation workshop of the Abegg-Stiftung developed a new hanging method which is presented in the second part of this paper.