Unique XL artist tapestry by Émile Gilioli "Noir, rouge et Blanc", ca. 1970

French sculptor Émile Gilioli crafted each piece to polished perfection. His smooth marble and bronze abstract sculptures feature reflective surfaces, graceful curves and sudden, sharp lines and angles. And while Gilioli was obsessed with refinement in his three-dimensional work, his abstract prints and watercolors reveal a looser, more expressive approach. No matter the chosen medium, his inner artist always shone through.

Gilioli was born in 1911 to a family of Italian shoemakers living in Paris. When he was three years old, his family moved back to Italy and settled in Mantua, where young Gilioli was eventually employed at the local forge. After World War I, his family moved back to France and Gilioli attended the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs and Beaux-Arts de Paris. He started working as a sculpture craftsman at 17 years old, and at 19, he joined the studio of Jean Boucher.

During World War II, Gilioli was stationed in Grenoble. There, he spent time at the Musée de Grenoble and was introduced to Cubism. Upon his return to Paris in 1945, he became one of the key figures in the city's burgeoning abstractionist movement. That same year, he held his first exhibition in Grenoble and also showed at two salons in Paris, in 1947 and ’49.

Gilioli eventually settled in the commune of Saint-Martin-de-la-Cluze, where he opened a sculpture atelier. Throughout the 1950s, he continued to pave the way for abstract sculpture in the country, frequently exhibiting with artists like Alicia Penalba, François Stahly and Étienne Martin. Throughout his long career, Gilioli designed many large sculptures for public spaces.

In 1997, to mark the 20-year anniversary of his death, the commune of Saint-Martin-de-la-Cluze purchased his workshop and home, turning the property into a museum to permanently display his creations.

Gilioli's sculptures and works on paper are held in museums in France and around the world, including the Musée de Grenoble, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

On 1stDibs, find Émile Gilioli prints, drawings, sculptures and more.

Ewald Kröner is a German contemporary artist and designer, who is considered to be the reference artist for tufted art tapestries and carpets. Since the 1960s, he has promoted artistic tapestries. His skill set included a number of complementary activities, such as editing, manufacturing and weaving. He is also a renowned distributor and designer. He began by weaving in his own workshop and home. In the 1970s, he purchased a castle and transferred his manufacturing to the Schloss Heckhausen. He managed his main showroom in Karlsruhe/Düsseldorf and had galleries in both Munich, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland.

Ewald’s first major event was his participation in the German Pavilion at the “1970 Osaka Expo”. Since then, his work has been regularly shown in nominative exhibitions of artists or more institutional events, such as for the Deutsche Bank and more recently, for UBS Lucarno in 2009. A retrospective show was organized in September 2006. The list of artists produced by Kröner is impressive and includes Bauer, Chagall, Claisse, Geiger, Hajek, Herbin, Hundertwasser, Kandinsky, Klimt, Miro, Mondriaan, Picasso, Rothko, Vasarely and Warhol.

Ewald Kröner also wove his own designs. In the 1980s, he developed a complete collection of small and medium pieces that were both original and of a uniquely high standard in the quality of composition. His work expresses the European abstract search for its forgotten tribal roots. His success is validated by the fact that his tapestries have become part of art collections globally and can be seen in prominent museums, including his artwork, Moon and Structures in the Kirkland Museum, USA.