August Sun
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Braquenié workshop.
With its label signed by the artist.
1958.
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 Painters), and soon became 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 Mans Theatre, the France liner or the Prefecture of Creuse, .... If Picart le Doux's conceptions are close to those of Lurçat, his sources of inspiration and themes are also, but in a more decorative than symbolic register, where stars (the sun, the moon, the stars ...), elements, nature (wheat, vine, fish, birds ...), man, and texts coexist....
The theme of the harvests appears as early as 1944 with the artist ("The Harvest", of which a copy is kept at the Cité de la Tapisserie in Aubusson), as well as the allegories of the seasons. The character with the scythe also takes up that of "Winter", from 1950, one of his most celebrated tapestries. Here, the composition has become monumental.
Bibliography:
Marthe Belle-Joufray, Jean Picart le Doux, Publications filmées d'art et d'histoire, 1966
Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murailles de laine, Cercle d’art Editions, 1972, n°85
Exhibition catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Saint-Denis, Musée, 1976
Exhibition catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Paris, Musée de la Poste, 1980
