The trawl
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Berthaut workshop.
With its signed selvedge.
1952.
Jean Picart le Doux was one of the leading figures in the revival of tapestry. His career began in 1943 when he created cartoons for the ocean liner "La Marseillaise." Close to Lurçat, whose theories he embraced (limited tones, numbered cartoons, etc.), he was a founding member of the APCT (Association of Tapestry Cartoon Painters) and soon after became a professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. The French government commissioned numerous cartoons from him, most of which were woven in Aubusson, and some at the Gobelins Manufactory: the most spectacular were those for the University of Caen, the Théâtre du Mans, the ocean liner France, and the Prefecture of Creuse, among others. While Picart le Doux's designs are close to those of Lurçat, his sources of inspiration and themes are also similar, but in a more decorative than symbolic register, where celestial bodies (the sun, the moon, the stars…), elements, nature (wheat, vines, fish, birds…), man, texts,…. coexist.
“One of Picart le Doux’s most famous tapestries: its composition is very dense, and the ample curves of the net emphasize the choice of a broad and simple style.” This is how Maurice Bruzeau describes it in his entry on this tapestry (no. 37 in his book). “The Trawl” joins the marine themes omnipresent in the artist’s work, particularly during these years: “Sea God,” “The Mermaid,” “The Dolphin,” “Seafood,” “Starfish,” in a muted color palette based on khaki and silver-gray. Here, the treatment is more documentary (apart from the presence of the trident): it is fishing, as seen by Picart le Doux.
Bibliography:
Léon Moussinac, Jean Picart le Doux, Editions Cercle d'art, 1964 (reproduced Pl. 10);
Marthe Belle-Jouffray, Jean Picart le Doux, Filmed Publications of Art and History, 1966, reproduced no. 4
; Exhibition Catalog, Homage to Jean Picart le Doux, Rochechouart Artistic and Literary Center, 1968 (reproduced);
Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Walls of the Sun, Editions Cercle d'art, 1972
; Exhibition Catalog Jean Picart le Doux, Paris, Postal Museum, 1980 (reproduced)
; Exhibition Catalog Picart le Doux, Château d'Olonne, 1992, reproduced
