Jean Lurçat (1892 -1966) 


Rectangular coffee table in pine and oak veneer. The top features 24 ceramic tiles with polychrome enameled decoration of large stylized leaves. Manufactured by the Sant Vicens workshops circa 1950-1960. Dim. H: 39 cm x L: 131 cm × W:55 cm In 1951, Jean Lurçat visited Firmin Bauby, entrusting him with his ceramic creations. He stayed twice a year in Sant Vicens until his death in 1966. He created drawings, shapes and imagined colors, until he submitted them to Gumersind Gomila, workshop manager, and Eugène Fabrégas, potter, who produced a prototype. This collaboration gave rise to an abundance of production, exported worldwide. Jean Lurcat was born on July 1, 1892 in Bruyère (Vosges). After classical studies at Epinal College, he left in 1909 for Nancy, where he became a pupil of Victor Prouvé, painter and sculptor, leader of the Ecole de Nancy. After stays in Zurich and Munich, he settled in Paris, where he studied drawing with Bernard Naudin at the Académie Colarossi. In 1913, he became associated with the fresco painter P. Laffite, with whom he painted the ceiling of the Faculté des Sciences in Marseille. He then left for Italy, where he was surprised by the war; he enlisted, was wounded, evacuated to the interior and was able to resume his painting. In 1920-1921, he discovered the Cubists. In 1922, he embarked on a long journey that took him from the Sahara to Greece and Asia Minor, and from America to the USSR. In 1937, he made his first contact with Aubusson, where he settled in 1939, devoting himself entirely to tapestry. During the war, he left Aubusson and in 1944 joined the maquis in the Lot region, where he became head of cultural services. In June 1945, he left these services and set up his workshops in Saint Céré. From 1947 onwards, he undertook a series of conferences throughout on contemporary tapestry. Jean Lurcat's works can be found in most museums in France and abroad. Bibliography: Jean Lurcat, Le Bestiaire dans la tapisserie au Moyen Age, Ed. Caillier, Lausanne, 1947; le travail dans la tapisserie du Moyen Age, Ed. Cailler; la tapisserie française, Ed. Bordas, Paris, 1947; Designing Tapestry, Ed. Rockliff, London 1950; Géographie animale, Ed. Gonin, Lausanne, 1949. Books illustrated by Jean Lurcat: André de Richaud, La création du monde, Ed. les exemplaires, 49; Quatorze poèmes de P. de La Tour du Pin, Ed. Darantière, 49 ; J.H. Fabre, le monde merveilleux des insectes, Ed, les cent unes, 50 ; La Fontaine vingt fables, Ed. Gonin, 1951 Marcenac L'exemple de Jean Lurcat, Ed. Hurlimann Zurich, 1952. On Jean Lurcat: Ph. Soupault, Ed. Cahiers d'art 1926; Allanah Harper, 'Cahiers d'art, 1926; Cingria, Ed. Servanks, Antwerp, 1929; Jean Marcenac, La leçon de Jean Lurçat, Ed. Falaize, 1952. Although Jean Lurçat's name is definitively linked to the renaissance of contemporary tapestry, we must not forget that he was and remains a painter, and his experiences as a fresco artist, by bringing him into contact with the mural problem, are not negligible. Although he has devoted himself entirely to tapestry since 1030, he never fails to remind us, as in his recent exhibitions at the Maison de la Pensée française and the Galerie d'Orsay, of his continuing interest in painting and the graphic arts, not forgetting his experiences as a ceramist. With tapestry, it's not just a question of his personal work, teeming with masterpieces, but of a complete renovation of an art that had fallen into an absurd state of decadence. After more than 15 years of painstaking research, Lurçat had become convinced that the art of tapestry could be restored to its former glory. Lurçat was convinced of the need to return to the medieval tradition. The tapestries of the Apocalypse in Angers provided magnificent confirmation of this. We know that this 720 m° tapestry was woven with less than 25 tones and executed in large stitches. It was this technique and sobriety of material means of expression - which did not, on the contrary, exclude the sumptuousness and brilliance of pure colors - that was adopted by the Aubusson weavers under the impetus of Lurçat, Grommaire, Coutaud and then the "Peintres Cartonniers". But at the same time, he rehabilitated the old technique. Lurçat revived, beyond the centuries, a cosmic inspiration: the great poetic themes enlivened, enlivened by a lyrical and human breath quivering with the forces of nature forces of nature: realistic or fabulous bestiary, insects, flowers, leaves and feathers. Jean Lurçat's work is worth as much for its own sake as for the incomparable power of its radiance. Source: Mobilier et décoration