The Spring Violin
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Pinton workshop.
With its signed selvedge, no. 2/6.
1956.
A painter and engraver, Lucien Coutaud also worked for the theater with Dullin and Barrault, creating numerous sets and costumes. However, it was his meeting with Marie Cuttoli in 1933 that led him to tapestry; she initially commissioned him primarily to design chair covers. Most of his subsequent tapestries were woven at Pinton for the Compagnie des Arts Français, which aimed to integrate tapestry into interior design. The artist's last three tapestries in 1960 attest to his renown, as "Exotic Gardens" adorned the First Class lounge of the ocean liner "France."
Coutaud's qualities as a scenographer, influenced by Surrealism, are reflected in his woven work: his world is figurative, yet stylized (the forms are sharp and fragmented), resolutely dreamlike, and often features unusual borders.
The link between music and dreamlike imagery is close in Coutaud's universe: he designs musical still lifes where the instruments come to life (cf. "marine harp"), highlighted by borders teeming with eccentricity.
Bibliography:
Cat. Exp. Lucien Coutaud, woven works, Aubusson, Musée Départemental de la Tapisserie, 1988-1989, illustrated p.50
