Lyre
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Atelier Pinton.
Circa 1960.
Jean Picart le Doux est l’un des grands animateurs du renouveau de la tapisserie. His beginnings in the field dated back to 1943: he then made cartoons for the “la Marseillaise” passenger ship. Close to Lurçat—whom he married in line with his theories (limited tones, numbered cartoons,…)—he was a founding member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-cartonniers de Tapisserie), and soon became a professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts décoratifs. The State commissioned many woven cartoons from him, mostly in Aubusson and, for some, at the Gobelins: the most spectacular were created for the Université de Caen, the Théâtre du Mans, the “France” passenger ship, and the Préfecture de la Creuse,… While the designs of Picart le Doux were close to those of Lurçat, his sources of inspiration and themes were as well—though in a more decorative than symbolic register, where the stars (the sun, the moon, the stars,…) and the elements, nature (wheat, the vine, fish, birds,…), humankind, and texts… coexist. The motif of the lyre, as with the harp besides, was one of the artist’s recurring leitmotifs. Apollonian in character, the lyre appears regularly with the sun (cf. for example “Soleil-lyre”, Bruzeau n°82), but also as a symbol of time (as in the pendulum-beaters of the 18th century; one of the artist’s cartoons with the lyre motif is even titled “le balancier”: sale Lille, 17.6.01 n°464): “les Phases du temps” (cf. Armelle Bouchet Mazas, le paquebot France, Editions Norma, 2006, p.72) that adorn the first-class smoking room of the France. Strangely, our cartoon does not appear in Bruzeau’s book: perhaps it was a special commission connected with a scientific or industrial organization, given the form shown across the lyre. Bibliography : Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972 Armelle Bouchet Mazas, le paquebot France, Editions Norma, 2006
