« Coquillage étoilé II » (« Starry Shell II »)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Picaud workshop. With its bolduc Signed by the artist, no. 2/6. Circa 1975. Jean Picart le Doux was one of the leading figures in the revival of tapestry. His beginnings in the field dated back to 1943: he then produced cartoons for the liner “la Marseillaise”. Close to Lurçat, whom he followed in 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 teacher at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts décoratifs. The State commissioned him to make numerous woven cartoons, for the most part in Aubusson, and in some cases at the Gobelins: the most spectacular were produced for the University of Caen, the Théâtre du Mans, the liner France, or the Préfecture de la Creuse,…. While Picart le Doux’s designs were close to those of Lurçat, his sources of inspiration and themes were as well—yet in a more decorative than symbolic register, where the stars (the sun, the moon, the stars…), the elements, nature (wheat, vines, fish, birds…), humankind, texts,…. “Coquillage étoilé” dates from 1959, and the motif reappeared regularly thereafter, in “l’Eau et le Feu” (1959), “la Mer et la Terre” (1960) or “l’Homme et la Mer” (1964)… as a maritime evocation. Our cartoon re-centres the motif, while another, sharing the same title, unfolds vertically. Bibliography : Marthe Belle-Joufray, Jean Picart le Doux, Publications filmées d’art et d’histoire, 1966 Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972 Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Musée de Saint-Denis, 1976 Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, Musée de la Poste, 1980
