Jean PICART LE DOUX

Jean Picart le Doux is one of the major figures in the revival of tapestry. His beginnings in the field dated back to 1943: he then produced Cartoons for the ocean liner “la Marseillaise”. Close to Lurçat, whose theories he adopted (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 many Woven Cartoons from him, mostly in Aubusson, and for some at the Gobelins: the most spectacular were made for the Université de Caen, the Théâtre du Mans, the ocean liner France, or the Préfecture de la Creuse, … If the designs of Picart le Doux were close to those of Lurçat, so too were his sources of inspiration and his themes, but in a more decorative than symbolic register, where the celestial bodies (the sun, the moon, the stars, …), the elements, nature (wheat, the vine, fish, birds, …), humankind, texts, … coexist. The algae (and more broadly the underwater world) were a recurring motif for Picart le Doux throughout his career, from “les algues” of 1946; mention may be made of “Spiralgues”, “Buisson d’algues”, “les algues vertes”, … “Les petites algues” takes up “les algues”, on a smaller scale: Cartoon of 260 x 250 cm, with Leleu as publisher. The algae of the same name, like a vegetable lace, frame a panel of shells and starfish—still life, which is the true subject of the Cartoon. 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 municipal d’Art et d’Histoire, Saint-Denis, 1976 Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, Musée de la Poste, 1980