Foliate suns
« Tapisserie d’Aubusson tissée par l’atelier Braquenié » (Woven Aubusson tapestry by the Braquenié workshop). With its bolduc signed by the artist. 1958. 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 made 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 Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts décoratifs. The State commissioned him to produce numerous cartoons woven for the most part 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 Préfecture de la Creuse,…. If the designs by Picart le Doux were close to those of Lurçat, his sources of inspiration and his themes were as well—though in a more decorative than symbolic register, where the stars (the sun, the moon, the stars…), the elements, nature (grain, vines, fish, birds…), humankind, texts,…. The theme of the harvest appeared as early as 1944 in the artist’s work (« La moisson », an example of which is held at the Cité de la Tapisserie in Aubusson), along with personifications of the seasons. The character holding a scythe also reprises that of « l’Hiver », from 1950, one of his most celebrated tapestries. Here, the composition has become monumental. 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, n°85 Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Musée de Saint-Denis, 1976 Cat. Exp. Jean Picart le Doux, Musée de la Poste, 1980
