Les bûcherons (the lumberjacks)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Simone André workshop.
With label.
Circa 1960.
-
Les vieilles marches (the ancient steps)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Four workshop. With label, n°EA2/2. Circa 1980. -
Feuilles oiseaux (leaves birds)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Goubely workshop. With indistinct label, n°1/6. 1967. -
Tête de coq (a cock's head)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Braquenié workshop. With label. Circa 1950. -
Le petit vin blanc (a little white wine)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Picaud workshop. With label. Circa 1960. Jean Picart le Doux is one of the foremost figures in the renaissance of the art of tapestry. His earliest contributions to the field date back to 1943 when he designed cartoons for the passenger ship “la Marseillaise”. A close associate of Lurçat, whose theories he would adopt (limited palette, numbered cartoons...), he was a founding member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-cartonniers de Tapisserie), and soon after, a teacher at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. The state gave him several commissions most of them at the Aubusson workshop, and some at the Gobelins : the most spectacular of these being for the University of Caen, the Theatre in Le Mans, the passenger ship France or the Prefecture of the Creuse département ... In as much as Picart le Doux’s aesthetic is close to that of Lurçat, so also is his insipiration and his subject matter, although in a register which is more decorative than symbolic, where he brings together heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon, the stars...), the elements, nature (wheat, vines, fish, birds...), man, literary quotation ... In a symetrical composition such as Picart le Doux prefers, he reproduces certain elements of « Rouge et or » Red and gold (Bruzeau n° 125, 1962). “Nuits Saint-Georges” dates from 1961. But it was Lurçat who was noted for creating cartoons devoted to wine-making themes. Bibliography : Marthe Belle-Joufray, Jean Picart le Doux, Publications filmées d’art et d’histoire, 1966 Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972 Exhibition Catalogue, Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Musée de Saint-Denis, 1976 Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Musée de la Poste, 1980 -
Eve
Lurçat’s artistic production was immense : it is however his role as the renovator of the art of tapestry design which ensures his lasting renown. As early as 1917, he started producing works on canvas, then in the 20’s and 30’s, he worked with Marie Cuttoli. His first collaboration with the Gobelins workshop dates back to 1937, at the same time he discovered the tapestry of the Apocalypse which was essential in his decision to devote himself to tapestry design. He first tackled the technical aspects with François Tabard, then on his installation at Aubusson during the war, he established his technique : broad point, a simplified palette, outlined cartoons with colours indicated by pre-ordained numbers. A huge production then follows (over 1000 cartoons) amplified by his desire to include his painter friends, the creation of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapiisserie) and the collaboration with the art gallery La Demeure and Denise Majorel, and then by his role as a tireless advocate for the medium around the world. His tapestries reveal a pictorial world which is specifically decorative, with a very personal symbolic iconography : cosmogony (the sun, the planets, the zodiac, the four elements…) stylised vegetation, fauna (rams, cocks, butterflies, chimera …) standing out against a background without perspective (voluntarily different from painting) and, in his more ambitious work, designed as an invitation to share in a poetic (he sometimes weaves quotations into his tapestries) and philosophical (the grand themes are broached from the wartime period onwards) vision whose climax is the “Chant du Monde” (Song of the World) (Jean Lurçat Museum , ancien hôpital Saint Jean, Angers) which remained unfinished at his death. The total or partial re-use of cartoons is a characteristic of Lurçat’s working method : thus Eve is a replica in reverse of « La Poésie » (poetry), the antepenultimate panel of the « Chant du monde » series. Here the human face (? figure?) which had long been absent in the artist’s work, reappears. Was it his intention to create a biblical figure, an incarnation of woman, a poetic evocation, a sign of the zodiac (Virgo?)? The given title is Eve, probably out of respect for the artists widow’s wishes. Bibliography : Tapisseries de Jean Lurçat 1939-1957, Pierre Vorms Editeur, 1957 Exhibition Catalogue Lurçat, 10 ans après, Musée d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1976 Exhibition catalogue Les domaines de Jean Lurçat, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1986 Symposium Jean Lurçat et la renaissance de la tapisserie in Aubusson, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la tapisserie 1992 Exhibition Catalogue Dialogues avec Lurçat, Musées de Basse-Normandie, 1992 Exhibition catalogue Jean Lurçat, Donation Simone Lurçat, Académie des Beaux-Arts, 2004 Jean Lurçat, le chant du monde Angers 2007 Gérard Denizeau, Jean Lurçat, Liénart, 2013 Exhibition Catalogue Jean Lurçat au seul bruit du soleil, Paris, galerie des Gobelins, 2016Tapestry woven in the Fino workshop, Portalegre. With label signed by the artist's widow. 1962. -
Musique de chambre (chamber music)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop for the Compagnie des Arts Français. 1940. -
La crique (the cove)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Pinton workshop. 1959. -
Les beaux jours (fine weather)
Aubusson tapestry woven in the Henry workshop. With signed label, n°2/6. Circa 1980. -
Le dindon (the turkey)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop. With label. Circa 1960.
