Jean Lurçat

L'Œuvre de Lurçat is immense: however, it was his role in the renewal of the art of tapestry that earned him a lasting legacy. As early as 1917, he began with canvas-on-design works, then, in the 1920s and 1930s, he worked with Marie Cuttoli. His first collaboration with the Gobelins dates from 1937, when he simultaneously discovered the Apocalypse tapestry series of Angers, which definitively led him to devote himself to tapestry. He first addressed technical questions with François Tabard, and then, when he was installed in Aubusson during the war, he defined his system: bold point, counted tones, drawn cartoons Numbered. A gigantic production began then (more than 1,000 cartoons), amplified by his determination to involve his painter friends, the creation of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie), and his collaboration with the gallery La Demeure and Denise Majorel, and then by his role as an tireless advocate for the medium throughout the world. His woven work bears witness to an art of image-making that is specifically decorative, with a highly personal, symbolic iconography that is cosmogonic (sun, planets, zodiac, the four elements…), stylized vegetal motifs, and animals (goats, cocks, butterflies, chimeras…) that stand out against a background without perspective (deliberately distanced from painting).

A gigantic production began then (more than 1,000 cartoons), amplified by his determination to involve his painter friends, the creation of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-Cartonniers de Tapisserie), and his collaboration with the gallery La Demeure and Denise Majorel, and then by his role as an tireless advocate for the medium throughout the world.

Son œuvre tissée témoigne d’un art d’imagier spécifiquement décoratif, dans une iconographie symbolique très personnelle, cosmogonique (soleil, planètes, zodiaque, 4 éléments…), végétale stylisée, animale (boucs, coqs, papillons, chimères…), se détachent sur un fond sans perspective (volontairement éloigné de la peinture), et destinée, dans ses cartons les plus ambitieux, à faire partager une vision à la fois poétique (il émaille d’ailleurs parfois ces tapisseries de citations) et philosophique (les grands thèmes sont abordés dès la guerre : la liberté, la résistance, la fraternité, la vérité… ) et dont le point culminant sera le « Chant du Monde » ( Musée Jean Lurçat, ancien hôpital Saint-Jean, Angers) , inachevé à sa mort.

In his most ambitious cartoons, it was intended to share a vision that is both poetic (he also sometimes embellishes these tapestries with quotations) and philosophical (the major themes were already addressed during the war: freedom, resistance, fraternity, truth…). Its culminating point would be the "Chant du Monde" (Musée Jean Lurçat, former Saint-Jean hospital, Angers), unfinished at his death. "Cuivré" is the name given to certain butterflies whose iridescent reflections recall metal. This carton reprises "sphynx and cock" (without the cock), in a beautiful positive/negative contrast, with yellow on a black ground.

Bibliography:
Tapestries by Jean Lurçat 1939–1957, Pierre Vorms Editeur, 1957
Exhibition cat. Lurçat, 10 years later, Musée d’Art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1976
Cat. Expo. Les domaines de Jean Lurçat, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine, 1986
Colloque Jean Lurçat et la renaissance de la tapisserie à Aubusson, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la Tapisserie, 1992
Exhibition cat. Dialogues with Lurçat, Musées de Basse-Normandie, 1992
Exhibition cat. Jean Lurçat, Donation Simone Lurçat, Académie des Beaux-Arts, 2004
Gérard Denizeau, Jean Lurçat, Liénart, 2013
Exhibition cat. Jean Lurçat au seul bruit du soleil, Paris, galerie des Gobelins, 2016