The lyre bird
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop.
With signed label, no. 3/6.
Circa 1960.
Jean Picart le Doux is one of the great animators of the revival of tapestry. His beginnings in the field date back to 1943: he then created cartoons for the liner 'La Marseillaise'. Close to Lurçat, whose theories he espouses (limited tones, numbered cartoons, ...), he is a founding member of the A.P.C.T. (Association of Tapestry Cartoonists), and soon a professor at the National Higher School of Decorative Arts. The State commissions numerous cartoons, most of which are woven in Aubusson, and some at the Gobelins: the most spectacular ones will be for the University of Caen, the Théâtre du Mans, the liner France or the Prefecture of Creuse, .... If the conceptions of Picart le Doux are close to those of Lurçat, his sources of inspiration, his themes, are too, but in a more decorative than symbolic register, where the stars (the sun, the moon, the stars ...), the elements, nature (wheat, the vine, fish, birds ...), man, and texts coexist, ....
Pattern taken from 'the lyre bird' of 1954, fuller cartoon, and larger size, including the pattern of the French garden. Picart le Doux was a regular recycler of elements taken from previous cartoons.
Bibliography:
Marthe Belle-Joufray, Jean Picart le Doux, Filmed Art and History Publications, 1966
Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Walls of Sun, Cercle d'Art Editions, 1972
Exh. Cat. Jean Picart le Doux, tapestries, Saint-Denis Museum, 1976
Exh. Cat. Jean Picart le Doux, Post Office Museum, 1980
