The dazzled eye
Tapestry woven by the Clochard workshop.
With its ribbon signed by the artist, No. 1/6.
Circa 1980.
Trained as an engraver (Prix de Rome for engraving in intaglio in 1942), Jean Louis Viard created his first cartoons in the mid-1950s.
Initially figurative (he worked with Picart Le Doux at the time), he then followed the natural path of many painter-cartoonists (similar to Matégot, Tourlière, or Prassinos,…) by evolving towards abstraction. He created dozens of cartoons until the 2000s, in parallel with his work as a painter and engraver, but showing a particular interest in materials and textures, like the supporters of the "New Tapestry" of which Pierre Daquin, who wove it, was one of the major protagonists.
His themes, sometimes metaphysical (»Memories», »Destiny», …) are broad, ranging from the astronomical infinite (»solar darkness») to the cellular minuscule (»vegetable mutation»): a profuse and varied work, regularly exhibited at the Demeure, in various salons or special exhibitions, and more significantly at the Comparaison salon, where he was responsible for the Tapestries section.
