Selling textile art and contemporary tapestry

01A medium undergoing institutional reappraisal

The institutional reappraisal of textile is a major phenomenon of recent years. The Centre Pompidou devoted exhibitions to Sheila Hicks and Anni Albers. The Museum of Modern Art in New York presented major acquisitions of textile artists. The Venice Biennale regularly integrated textile works into its main exhibitions. Tate Modern in London hosted monumental textile installations. These institutional choices signal that textile is no longer regarded as a minor medium but as a fully fledged artistic language.

In France, Les Gobelins and the Manufacture de Beauvais perpetuate a tapestry tradition dating back to the Middle Ages while collaborating with contemporary artists. The Cite internationale de la tapisserie in Aubusson, listed as UNESCO intangible heritage, has launched commission programmes for contemporary artists that renew the genre. Aubusson is no longer merely a heritage site: it is a living production centre where artists such as Thomas Bayrle, Krijn de Koning and Eva Nielsen have created tapestries that subsequently entered public and private collections.

The Fondation Toms Pauli in Lausanne holds one of the world's most important collections of contemporary tapestries and continues the work initiated by the International Tapestry Biennial of Lausanne, which ran from 1962 to 1995 and contributed to the emancipation of textile as an autonomous artistic medium.

Contemporary art fairs reflect this evolution. Art Basel, Frieze London and the FIAC regularly present textile works on the stands of leading galleries. Frieze Sculpture in Regent's Park has hosted monumental textile installations. Specialist fairs such as Contextile in Guimaraes, Portugal, are exclusively dedicated to contemporary textile art and attract an international audience of specialised collectors. For the dealer engaging with this medium, these platforms offer presentation opportunities that did not exist twenty years ago.

02Categories of contemporary textile

The dealer wishing to integrate textile into their programme must understand the diversity of practices composing this field. Woven tapestry, heir to the Aubusson and Gobelins tradition, is produced on a loom and can reach monumental dimensions. It involves a process of translating a cartoon (preparatory design) into weaving, often carried out by professional weavers in specialised workshops.

Textile sculpture uses thread, fabric and fibres as three-dimensional construction material. Sheila Hicks, whose oeuvre spans more than sixty years, explored this path with sculptures ranging from the miniature to the monumental. Magdalena Abakanowicz, a historical figure of Polish textile art, created organic installations in sisal and jute that redefined the boundaries between textile and sculpture.

Textile as pictorial surface is a third category. Artists such as Bisa Butler use fabric and quilting to create portraits of a chromatic power that painting does not achieve in the same way. Sam Gilliam, before his passing, developed a practice of free canvas, draped and suspended, that questioned the boundary between painting and textile.

Conceptual fibre art constitutes a fourth approach, where textile serves as a vehicle for reflections on gender, domestic labour, colonisation and the relations between craft and fine art. The works of Cecilia Vicuna, who received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2022, explore the Andean quipu as a system of memory and cultural resistance.

The dealer choosing to champion contemporary textile must be able to navigate between these different categories and present them to collectors with the necessary clarity. The diversity of textile practices is a programmatic asset, but it can also disorient an audience that still associates textile with a single register. The dealer's mediation work consists of showing the breadth of the field, creating dialogues between different approaches and demonstrating that textile is a language as varied and rich as painting or sculpture.

03The collector profile for contemporary textile

Collectors of contemporary textile present a specific profile the dealer must know. They often combine an interest in contemporary art broadly with a particular sensitivity to materials, textures and fabrication processes. Some come from the worlds of design and architecture, where textile plays a functional and aesthetic role that creates familiarity with the medium.

Institutional collectors are important buyers. Contemporary art museums, decorative arts museums and private foundations regularly acquire textile works, either to enrich specialised collections or to diversify contemporary art holdings previously dominated by painting and sculpture. The Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs and the CNAP (Centre national des arts plastiques) are among French acquirers of contemporary textile.

Private collectors sensitive to textile often appreciate the tactile aspect of the works, their physical presence in a living space and the temporal dimension of the artisanal labour they involve. A tapestry that required months of weaving carries a labour value that resonates with collectors attentive to the human dimension of creation.

Interior architects and decorators constitute an indirect sales channel the dealer should not neglect. These professionals seek works that dialogue with the spaces they design, and textile, through its capacity to bring warmth, texture and colour to an interior, meets needs that painting or sculpture do not satisfy in the same way. The dealer who maintains relationships with interior architects and understands their project constraints can develop a sales channel complementary to direct collector sales. Galerie Demisch Danant in New York and Paris built part of its clientele by working with high-end interior design professionals.

04Presentation challenges in the gallery

Presenting textile works in a gallery poses specific technical challenges. Large-scale tapestries require adapted hanging systems that distribute weight without exerting excessive tension on the fibres. Textile sculptures may require plinths, vitrines or suspension devices that respect the work's integrity while presenting it in optimal conditions.

Lighting is a critical parameter. Textile fibres are sensitive to ultraviolet rays, and prolonged exposure to overly intense light causes irreversible fading. The dealer must invest in museum-quality LED lighting, UV-filtered and calibrated to an intensity that permits visual appreciation of the work without compromising its conservation.

The humidity and temperature of the exhibition space influence textile conservation. An environment that is too dry weakens fibres; one that is too humid encourages mould. The dealer who regularly presents textile works must monitor the climatic conditions of their space and, if necessary, invest in climate control systems.

The question of maintenance is a subject to address with the collector at the point of sale. A tapestry hung in a living room accumulates dust and can attract moths. The dealer must be able to provide precise conservation recommendations and, if possible, connect the collector with a restorer specialising in textiles.

05Pricing and valuation

The pricing of textile works remains a complex subject. Textile still carries, in the minds of certain collectors, the stigma of craft and decorative arts, which can create resistance to the prices charged by the medium's most recognised artists. The dealer must construct a valuation discourse that clearly positions the textile work within the field of contemporary art, drawing on the artist's institutional recognition, museum exhibitions and presence in public collections.

Aubusson tapestries produced from cartoons by contemporary artists sell in price ranges that vary considerably depending on the artist's reputation, the work's dimensions and the weaving complexity. Works by Sheila Hicks reach prices comparable to those of the most sought-after sculptors of her generation. Emerging textile artists offer works at more accessible prices, giving the dealer the possibility to build a textile programme at different price levels.

Production cost is a parameter the dealer must be aware of. A tapestry woven in Aubusson requires months of work by skilled weavers, and the production cost is reflected in the selling price. This high production cost can serve as a selling point for collectors who value artisanal expertise and the rarity that follows from it.

The secondary market for textile art is developing progressively. Auction houses devote an increasing number of lots to contemporary textile works, and the results obtained confirm the existence of a collector market willing to acquire textile works at significant prices. The dealer can use these results as a reference to justify prices on the primary market, while noting that the primary market offers the advantage of direct access to the artist and a broader choice than the secondary market.

06Artedusa and visibility for contemporary textile

For galleries championing textile art and contemporary tapestry, the principal difficulty remains visibility. This medium still suffers from a coverage deficit compared to painting or sculpture, and potential collectors do not always know where to find the works that interest them. Artedusa offers partner galleries a digital showcase where textile works receive the same presentation quality as other media, enabling collectors worldwide to discover and acquire pieces they would not have encountered through the traditional gallery circuit in their city. Quality photography is particularly important for textile, whose richness of textures and materials is only fully revealed by carefully crafted images that do justice to the tactile dimension of the work. The dealer who invests in professional photographic documentation of their textile works maximises their online impact and facilitates remote purchasing decisions.