Veil-Fish
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Atelier Pinton. With its bolduc, signed by the artist, no. 5/6. 1969. Jean Picart le Doux was one of the great driving forces behind 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, whom he married to, he embraced his theories (limited tones, numbered cartoons, …), and he was a founding member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-cartonniers de Tapisserie), and soon became a teacher at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts décoratifs. The State commissioned him to produce many woven cartoons, mostly in Aubusson, and for some at the Gobelins: the most spectacular were made for the University of Caen, the Théâtre du Mans, the ocean liner France, or the Prefecture of the Creuse, …. Although Picart le Doux’s designs were close to those of Lurçat, so too were his sources of inspiration and his themes—yet in a more decorative than symbolic register, where the stars (the sun, the moon, the stars …), the elements, nature (grain, the vine, fish, birds …), humanity, texts, … sit side by side. “Poissons-voile” adopted the central motif of “Rouge de Chine” (Bruzeau no. 178), of 1969, with motifs of algae, coral, and fish—an artist’s classic. Moreover, Picart le Doux was probably the cartoonist who made the most frequent use of red grounds, in different shades. 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
