Pedro Preux

Pedro Pablo Preux (November 17, 1932 – June 16, 2011) was a Mexican tapestry maker of French origin, part of an effort to revive the craft as an art form in Europe under Jean Luçart then introducing and promoting the concept in Mexico in the 1960s and 1970s. Although tapestry making as art declined back to handcraft status starting in the 1980s, Preux’s efforts were recognized with membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana and the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte.

Life Pedro Preux was born in Paris to Roberto Preux, a painter and Sonia Lernau, a sculptor and tapestry weaver. He began to learn artistic skills from his parents, studying violin and architecture as well. He and his family immigrated to Mexico in 1942, arriving alongside a wave of Spanish exiles to the country. He later became a naturalized citizen of the country.

Preux did not have any formal artistic training. However, he received scholarships from the French government in 1961 and 1965 to study tapestry making in Aubusson and in Gobelins Manufactory, the official factory in Paris. Here he apprenticed under Jean Luçart. The concept gained favor with the artistic community, which had begun promoted Mexico’s handcraft tradition after the Mexican Revolution. This effort blurred the lines between fine art and “popular art” (handcrafts), attracting artists such as Carlos Orozco Romero, Francisco Moreno Capdevila, Francisco Icaza and Marcela López to create tapestry designs. At this time, INBAL closed the enterprise considering the making of tapestries to be “obsolete,” sending Preux and others to a newly formed textile design school.

Preux’s work has been exhibited in Mexico and abroad. During his lifetime, his individual exhibitions included the Galería Diana in Mexico City (1960), Galería Trini in Cuernavaca (1961), the Palacio de Bellas Artes (1966), Galería Pecanins in Mexico City (1967), Galería Jack Misrachi in Mexico City (1968), the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego (1969), the Long Beach Museum of Art (1970), Museo de Arte Moderno (1971, 1979), Galería de Arte Mexicano in Mexico City (1972), the Pavilion Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona (1973), Galería Kin in Mexico City (1974), the Casa de Cultura in Mexicali (1976), the Consort Gallery in London (1986) and the Canning House in London (1987). He also participated in collective exhibitions in Mexico, France Colombia, the United States, Peru, Poland, the Netherlands, Cuba, Argentina and Brazil.

Artistry Although Preux did some work in printmaking, his notable work was in tapestry design and making, using the Gobelins techniques in a mixture of cotton and wool.

Preux was part of an effort to resurrect tapestries as art in Europe, studying under Jean Luçart in Aubusson and becoming a loyal disciple of both technique and philosophy. Like his mentor he insisted that tapestries are paintings in another medium as they require the same sense of composition and create a drawing on canvas or paper, but mindful the finished work is wool or cotton. One of his most important exhibits to this effect was at the Museo de Arte Moderno in 1979, in which he placed not only tapestries, but also paintings related to the history of the craft. The idea was to show what tapestries are “wall paintings” or a kind of portable mural.

He also believed that fine arts students should also study one or more crafts as part of their academic studies because many artists do not make a living from their art and those who do need to remain grounded and not elitist.