Art Of The Day Weekly
#429 - from 5 May 2016 to 11 May 2016
Jean Lurçat, The Seasons - Spring, 1946, Aubusson tapestry, Tabard workshop, 3,25 x 4,78 m © Isabelle Bideau
Lurçat, a giant in tapestry
PARIS – He embodies tapestry, an art that has fallen out of fashion for it requires patience, abnegation, team spirit and large spaces. Jean Lurçat (1892-1966) produced huge cartons, woven by the workshops of Aubusson or the Gobelins, and which decorated the Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune as well as the French embassy in Rome or the 1st class restaurant in Orly when the airport was inaugurated in 1961! But Lurçat was also a painter, and a very committed one at that. In 1935, he was in the region of Asturias to support the miners’ strike. The exhibition at the Galerie des Gobelins traces his career, his freindships, the shock of the two wards by presenting pieces –should we say monumental ones, such as Le Vin that is more than 40 m2 big). His house in Paris, designed by his brother André (Villa Seurat, in the14e) is currently under renovation and will soon be open to visitors upon appointments.
•Jean Lurçat, au bruit seul du soleil, at the Galerie des Gobelins, from 4 May to 18 September 2016.