The earth and the sea II
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Hecquet workshop.
With its label signed by the artist's widow, No. 1/6.
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 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....
This cartoon is a smaller version of the original cartoon (170 x 272 cm) from 1960. At this time, Picart le Doux began creating binary-type cartoons with combined allegories of elements. A typology is established (fish + shellfish = sea or water, butterflies + roots = earth), which Picart le Doux will use until the end.
Bibliography :
Marthe Belle-Joufray, Jean Picart le Doux, Film Publications of Art and History, 1966
Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Walls of Sun, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972, n°103
Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, tapestries, Museum of Saint-Denis, 1976
Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, Museum of the Post, 1980
