Col Noir

June Wayne
Tapestry
EA 1 (one example extant)
Cotton, wool, and wool with additional fibers
62¼x75¼in, 1973.

Unique example, woven by Pierre Daquin, Atelier de Saint Cyr.

Cartoon designed by June Wayne; tapestry bears artist's signature woven in lower left corner

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Pasadena Museum of California Art, 2014; David Richard Gallery, Santa Fe, 2013; Art Institute of Chicago, 2010; Mason Gross School of the Arts Galleries, 2005; Art Expo West, 1980; Galerie La Demeure, 1974; Van Doren Gallery, 1974; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, 1973.

COMMENT
The title contains a triple pun on the French word col, which can be translated as necklace, here referring to the DNA helix as a string of beads, a mountain pass, and the color threads tied in a ring for use in a given tapestry.

“The subject concerns itself with the DNA helix as a strand of beads, woven and presented on a background of varying shades of sky blue. The twisted strand may also represent a necklace, one of the meanings of the French word col. Below this upper portion of the tapestry, the work depicts a mountain range in shadings of off-white and light brown that fills the lower half. Thus, the title references a second meaning of the French col, i.e., mountain pass, which indeed is the meaning that has come over into English. The composition of this tapestry Wayne first began to explore in 1970 with a series of lithographs and drawings in her Burning Helix series, as evident, for example, in the lithograph Standoff of October 1970. The mountain range and the DNA strand are united against a reddish brown background, and the inclusion of shadows gives this tapestry a three-dimensionality in certain areas. The combination of imagery relates directly to Wayne's visit to Jonas Salk at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, in late 1969. On that occasion, he showed her a slide that recorded the DNA of some bacteria.”

—Christa C. Mayer Thurman, curator of June Wayne’s Narrative Tapestries: Tidal Waves, DNA, and the Cosmos, Art Institute of Chicago 2010.

”It now appears we are composed of an infinitude of particle and gene-modules of which some percentage will be unstable, misplaced or defective. Just as a fault in a miniaturized computer circuit nearly blew up the Southern Hemisphere during one of the atomic test some years ago, so the current experiments that unite the genes of viruses with the genes of our friendly bacillus coli well could decimate our species.”

—June Wayne, 1976, as quoted in Arlene Raven June Wayne, A Retrospective, Neuberger Museum of Art, 1997.

Please see also the lithographs Standoff and Thou Shalt Not.