Hommage à Vivaldi (a tribute to Vivaldi)
Aubusson tapestry woven by the Berthaut workshop.
With signed label.
1963.
Jean Picart le Doux is one of the foremost figures in the renaissance of the art of tapestry. His earliest contributions to the field date back to 1943 when he designed cartoons for the passenger ship “la Marseillaise”. A close associate of Lurçat, whose theories he would adopt (limited palette, numbered cartoons…), he was a founding member of the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-cartonniers de Tapisserie), and soon after, a teacher at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. The state gave him several commissions most of them at the Aubusson workshop, and some at the Gobelins : the most spectacular of these being for the University of Caen, the Theatre in Le Mans, the passenger ship France or the Prefecture of the Creuse département … In as much as Picart le Doux’s aesthetic is close to that of Lurçat, so also is his inspiration and his subject matter, although in a register which is more decorative than symbolic, where he brings together heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon, the stars…), the elements, nature (wheat, vines, fish, birds…), man, literary quotation …
The theme of the seasons is a classic in the history of tapestry which was enthusiastically ressuscitated by the 20th century cartoon artists, of whom Lurçat was foremost (cf his Seasons wall hanging commissioned by the state in 1939). Here, Seasons, Zodiac, Music (in the title only) coexist: the work is a vast synthesis of the artist's various sources of inspiration. The colour graduation and specific attributes (the iconography is traditional) allow us to follow the annual cycle. The seasons will also be woven together in pairs, 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
Exhibition Catalogue, Jean Picart le Doux, tapisseries, Musée de Saint-Denis, 1976, ill.
Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Boulogne sur Mer, Bibliothèque municipale, 1978
Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Paris,Musée de la Poste, 1980, ill.
Exhibition Catalogue Jean Picart le Doux, Abbaye Saint Jean d’Orbestier, 1992, ill.
