Reference No.: 78J/ DMN

Origin: FRANCE - Aubusson

Period: 20th century

Origin: Private Collection

Composition: Wool and coton

Dimension: 2.25 L x 1.50 H

JEAN LURÇAT

A tireless creator, Lurçat is a multifaceted artist: painter, poet, illustrator, he is passionate about ceramic and tapestry techniques, of which he is the most illustrious representative of the 20th century.

Committed to his time, and passionately curious about the world, Jean Lurçat was born in the Vosges in Bruyères, where Lucien, recipient of the posts, and Charlotte produced a line of creators: Jean the painter and André the architect.

Jean Lurçat trained in the studio of Victor Prouvé, leader of the École de Nancy, then immersed himself in the artistic and intellectual effervescence of Paris at the age of twenty. He completed his training outside the official circuits, founded with friends the magazine Les feuilles de mai, and then decided to start a career as a fresco painter, but the project was short-lived because of the war. Jean Lurçat, a volunteer, suffered the terrible fate of the foot soldiers tossed about in the turmoil: this would mark him for life.

A Lurçat, impatient and unstoppable, spoke during the decade of the 1920s. He is known for his painting, in France and the United States. A painter of international renown, he was one of the most significant artists of his time, while remaining on the fringes of contemporary aesthetic trends. He collaborates with Pierre Chareau, an architect and decorator known through his friends Jean and Annie Dalsace, the sponsors of the iconic glass house on rue Saint-Guillaume. He also produces large canvases embroidered by his wife and gives carpet projects.

Collector Marie Cuttoli weaves tapestries from works by Lurçat and other artists in her collection in Aubusson, and this experience opens the way to the rebirth of tapestry through her aesthetic ambition. At the same time, at the National Manufactures, a Salon des Illusions d'Icare was woven; intended for the French Embassy in the USSR, it was never set up because of the war.

Lurçat, at that time, abandoned easel painting. The decisive step was taken when he appropriated the technique of smooth tapestry and became involved in the technique of wool language. The Apocalypse of Angers, which he discovered in 1938, confirmed his intuition. He perceives the immense potential and originality of this art. The size of the point, the limited range and the numbered cardboard, he would never cease to advocate the advantages of a method that returned to the fundamentals of medieval technology, a period he considered to be the period of the greatest masterpieces of tapestry. In order to support the Aubusson factories, heavily affected by the great crisis and in need of creation, the administrator of the National Manufactures, Guillaume Jeanneau, imagined entrusting a major commission to contemporary artists.

Our house assures you the sale of a tapestry with invoice and approved expertise, well cleaned, in good condition with its fixing system. If necessary, we will inform you of the work that has been done. All our tapestries can be presented to you at your home in France and neighbouring countries before your final decision.