Homage to Vivaldi
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Berthaut workshop. With its bolduc Signed. 1963. Jean Picart le Doux was one of the leading figures in the revival of tapestry. His beginnings in the field dated from 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 professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts décoratifs. The State commissioned him to produce many cartoons that were woven for the most part in Aubusson, some at the Gobelins: the most spectacular would be for the University of Caen, the Théâtre du Mans, the ocean liner France, or the Préfecture of the Creuse,…. If the designs by Picart le Doux were close to those of Lurçat, so too were his sources of inspiration and themes, but in a more decorative than symbolic register, where the celestial bodies (the sun, the moon, the stars…), the elements, nature (wheat, vine, fish, birds…), humankind, texts,… coexisted. The theme of the seasons is a commonplace of tapestry history that the cartoon-makers of the 20th century set out to revive, with Lurçat at the forefront (cf. his Seasons suite commissioned by the State as early as 1939). Here, Seasons, Zodiac, Music (the title only) coexist: the work is a vast synthesis of the artist’s different sources of inspiration. The chromatic range and specific attributes (the iconography is traditional) make it possible to follow the annual cycle. The seasons were also woven 2 by 2, horizontally, in a smaller format (3 m²), and without reference to Vivaldi. Bibliography : Marthe Belle-Joufray, Jean Picart le Doux, Publications filmées d’art et d’histoire, 1966, n°19 Maurice Bruzeau, Jean Picart le Doux, Murs de soleil, Editions Cercle d’art, 1972, n°139 Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Musée de Saint-Denis, 1976, reproduced in Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, Boulogne sur Mer, Bibliothèque municipale, 1978 Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, Paris,Musée de la Poste, 1980, reproduced in Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, Abbaye Saint Jean d’Orbestier, 1992, reproduced
