Jean Lurçat (; 1 July 1892 – 6 January 1966) was a French artist noted for his role in the revival of contemporary
tapestry.
Biography
He was born in
Bruyères,
Vosges, the son of Lucien Jean Baptiste Lurçat and Marie Emilie Marguerite L'Hote. He was the brother of
André Lurçat, who became an architect. After his secondary education at
Épinal, he enrolled at ''La Faculté des sciences de
Nancy'' and studied medicine. He went to Switzerland and Germany (
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
) and in leaving his educational path, he went to the workshop of
Victor Prouvé, the head of the ''
École de Nancy''.
Painting and the War
In 1912, Jean Lurçat took residence in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
with his brother André. He enrolled at the ''
Académie Colarossi'', then at the workshop of the engraver, Bernard Naudin. He met painters such as
Matisse,
Cézanne,
Renoir; his friends included
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...
,
Antoine Bourdelle, and
Elie Faure. Lurçat and three associates founded the ''Feuilles de Mai'' (The leaves of May), a journal of art in which these celebrities participated. He then became an apprentice of the painter
Jean-Paul Lafitte with whom he had an exhibition at ''La faculté des sciences de
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
''. His first journey to Italy was interrupted in August by the declaration of war. Back in France, Lurçat joined the infantry, but was evacuated on 15 November after falling ill. During his recovery to health, in 1915, he practised painting and
lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
. In July 1916, he returned to the front, but was evacuated once again due to injury. He never returned to the front. In September, his art was put on exhibition in
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
.
Discovery of tapestry
In 1917, Jean Lurçat made his first tapestries: ''Filles Vertes'' (Green Girls) and ''Soirée dans Grenade'' (Evening in Grenada). At the end of the war in 1918, he returned to Switzerland where he had a holiday in
Ticino
Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...
(Swiss Italy), with Rilke,
Busoni,
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...
and
Jeanne Bucher. His second exhibition took place in Zürich in the same year. In 1920, he travelled extensively:
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
,
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
,
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. Then he took up residence in Paris with
Marthe Hennebert. It was she who wove two tapestries: ''Pêcheur'' (Fisherman) and ''Piscine'' (Swimming pool). He unveiled in the same year, at ''Le Salon des Indépendants'', two tapestries and four paintings. He met the art merchant
Étienne Bignou.
In 1921, Jean Lurçat met
Louis Marcoussis, he discovered
Picasso and
Max Jacob, and created decoration and costumes for ''Le spectacle de la Compagnie''
Pitoeff: "He who receives slaps", and then spent the autumn near the Baltic sea. The following year, he created his fifth tapestry, ''Le Cirque'' (the circus), for
Mme. Cuttoli. His first personal exhibition took place in Paris in April and September. He made a large decoration on a wall (no longer visible today) at the Castle of Villeflix. Then he went to Berlin, where he met
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...
.
During the next two years Lurçat resumed travelling. In 1923 he went to Spain; in 1924 he went to North Africa, the Sahara, Greece and Asia Minor. Upon his return, he signed a contract without exclusivity with his friend, Étienne Bignou. His brother André built his new house, ''
Villa Seurat'', in Paris. He devoted a portion of the year 1924 to the making of his sixth tapestry, ''Les arbres'' (The trees). On 15 December, Lurçat married Marthe Hennebert and traveled in 1925 to Scotland, then Spain and northern Africa. Upon his return, he took up residence at ''La Villa Seurat''. He participated in several expositions with
Raoul Dufy,
Marcoussis, Laglenne and others. He revealed, at the home of Jeanne Bucher, elements of decoration (carpets and paintings) of ''
Le Vertige'', a film by
Marcel l'Herbier
Marcel L'Herbier (; 23 April 1888 – 26 November 1979) was a French filmmaker who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued unti ...
. In 1926, he exhibited in Paris and
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, and participated in collective exhibitions in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Paris, and Anvers. His fame began due to several articles devoted to him.
Years of glory
With the company of Marthe, he departed in 1927 for the Orient and spent the summer in Greece and Turkey. He decorated the lounge of the family of
David David-Weill. There are four tapestries in developing and implementing ''L'Orage'' (The storm), for
George Salles (''Musée National d'Art Moderne'', National Museum of Modern Art). He returned to Greece and Italy (Rome) in 1928 before embarking in October for the United States of America, for his first exhibition in
New York. He spent 1929 in Marco. In 1930 he had exhibitions in Paris, London, New York, and
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
; he created nine
drypoint illustrations for ''Les Limbes'' (The limbo) by
Charles-Albert Cingria; and he made another visit to America. In that same year he divorced Marthe Hennebert. In 1931 he married Rosane Timotheef and they took up residence in
Vevey
Vevey (; ; ) is a town in Switzerland in the Vaud, canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Leman, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used.
It was the seat of the Vevey (district), district of the same name until 200 ...
(Switzerland). He wrote several articles about painting, and reduced his production of pictures.
In December, 1932, Lurçat participated in the exhibition ''Sélections'' with Matisse, Picasso,
Braque,
Derain and Raoul Dufy; the event was organised in New York by the Valentine Gallery. Being aligned with the far left, from then on he often mixed his political opinions with his art. In 1933, he was living in New York. He created the decoration and the costumes for the ''Jardin Public'' (Public Garden), a ballet by
Leonid Massine. 1933 also saw his first tapestry sewn at
Aubusson, following the new and revolutionary technique that he developed.
Lurçat and the revival of French tapestry
In order to fully appreciate and understand the works of Jean Lurçat, one must view them in the context of the history of tapestry, in particular, the downfall of its existence during the rise of the Renaissance. It was during this time that tapestry was somewhat re-invented, where by traditional techniques were misplaced in the likening of tapestry to paintings by artists of the likes of Raphael. Jean Lurçat is largely responsible for its revival in the 20th century when he redefined the importance of designing tapestry in a way that embraced the integrity of authentic tapestry from the Middle Ages, inspiring artists like Picasso to acquire the skills to design for tapestry.
It was in the 15th century that tapestry, in its authentic form, was first recorded as being practiced.
By this time the technique had been mastered which gives us no reference as to when it was first put into practice. What we do know is that during the rise of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century, the art of tapestry was alienated by a demand for tapestry to imitate painting as closely as possible.
This allowed for traditional techniques, like hachure and hatching, to fall by the wayside allowing the art of tapestry to experience a kind of identity crisis. Techniques like shape-building dominated this new presence, creating an aesthetic dissimilar to that of traditional tapestry in that it achieved shading and implied dimension by building shapes as opposed to blending shapes and colour with the above mentioned techniques. This, in essence, created a new art form; a derivative of tapestry, effectively superseding it.
Western European tapestry history spans the foundation of the Gobelins manufactory 1662 to the beginning of the third republic of France in 1871.
It is in this time period where the subservience to painting is observed as being the dominant characteristic of tapestry. The commission by Pope Leo X in the early sixteenth century of ''The Acts of the Apostles'' by Raphael, to be woven in the Brussels workshops is thought be the turning point whereby tapestry was to, from that point on, be fashioned after designs supplied by painters.
The relationship of painting to tapestry in fact began in 1476 where the first counts of tapestry weaving were in Belgium, and painters had ostracized weavers for creating their own cartoons.
Thus indicating that tapestries were originally made in the likeness of paintings, and is where traditional techniques were formed.
Furthermore, in the 1500s, painters (with paint) and later designated specialized glazers (with only ink, wild-grain colour or chalk) were commissioned to touch up and create defined lines around the shapes on the surface of woven tapestry.
The need for this integration of painting on tapestry has been observed as being the result of poor tapestry cartoons.
Jean Lurçat himself began as a painter and tapestry weaver in 1915.
He became intrigued by tapestry weaving when he was learned of its history. Lurçat was especially influenced by ''Apocalypse of Angiers'' (14C) which he viewed in 1937.
He came away from this experience more sure that emotional content and reduction of means, or "scale of pre-arranged colour"
were of ultimate importance to tapestry design. Lurçat was already practicing these values and was pleased to see them validated by such an illustrious and historically powerful piece. Consequently, his convictions about how tapestry should be designed, regarded and used became stronger.
The opening statement of Lurcat's Designing Tapestry, distinguishes tapestry and easel paintings by their location: tapestries custom made for a specific, large wall.
Lurçat later refers to tapestry as a medium whose most authentic form is: 1) embedded with content; 2) is invariably large scale (15 meters X 15 meters), and; 3) is designed and thought of as being forever connected to architecture.
The artist asserts: "I want to remind you that Tapestry knew its proudest moments in a time when a style of extremely grandiose architecture reigned supreme".
There are many things about tapestry that Lurçat is sure of, e.g. the emphasis of content in relation to economy; the importance for tapestry to continue to thrive as a partner to architecture. The most recurring theme in his book, Designing Tapestry'','' is that of the strict design guidelines of which should be followed in order for the weaver, who is presumably not the designer, to have no artistic freedom so as for the designer to be able to design a tapestry cartoon and achieve exactly what they had envisioned as a result. In essence, Lurçat recommends a non-interpretive code in which the weaver would have no question as to what the designer requires of them. Additionally, Lurçat makes it very clear that the idea of fashioning a tapestry after a painting, especially one that had originally been painted with no intention of becoming a tapestry, was to Lurçat misrepresentative and disrespectful to the art form.
Expositions in the USSR
In 1934, Lurçat returned to New York where he participated in the creation of new decoration and costumes for a choreography of Balanchine; which he unveiled in Chicago and Philadelphia. Then he returned to Paris and Vevey for the summer. At summer's end, he departed for Moscow, where he had an exhibition at the ''Musée Occidental'' (Western Museum), then at the museum of Kiev. In 1935, he painted the ''Dynamiteros'' in Spain; with inspiration from the revolution and the ''War of Spain''. In Paris, he participated in the activities of the Association of the revolutionary authors and artists. Then, he followed, with
Malraux and
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
, the ''Journées d'Amité pour l'Union Soviétique'' (The Journeys of Friendship for the Soviet Union). In 1936, he exhibited in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and released his first tapestry, made at ''La Manufacture des Gobelins'' (The Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory, Paris), ''Les Illusions d'Icare'' (The Illusions of Icare). In 1937, he met François Tabard.
Vision of the apocalypse
In 1936, Jean Lurçat was inspired when he saw the tapestry ''L'Apocalypse'' (The Apocalypse), which was woven in the 14th century. In 1938, ''Moisson'' was sewn. In 1939, he exhibited in New York and in Paris. In September, he took up residence in Aubusson with Gromaire and Dubreuil in order to renovate the art of tapestry, which at the time had fallen to a low point. His innovative technique used a simplified palette and robust weaving at broad point. During this period he abandoned oil painting in favour of poster paints. The ''Musée National d'Art Moderne'' (National Museum of Modern Art) acquired ''Jardin des Coqs'' (Garden of Roosters) and ''L'Homme aux Coqs'' (The Man of the Roosters), of which the cardboard would be destroyed by the
SS in 1944 in
Lanzac. In 1940, he collaborated with André Derain and Raoul Dufy.
Resistance
In June 1944, he associated himself with the fighters of the communist resistance, namely,
Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara (; ; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, c ...
,
André Chamson,
René Huyghe,
Jean Cassou, and
Jean Agamemnon. He was put on the ''Comité de Libération'' (Committee of Liberation). He also met
Simone Selves, who would later become his wife. His adoptive son, Victor, was captured while on an intelligence mission in France and was put to death. Lurçat would not learn of his disappearance until the following year.
Legacy
Lurçat died on 6 January 1966 in
Saint-Paul de Vence. During the 1980s, his widow Simone established the Musée Jean Lurçat de Saint-Laurent les Tours and the Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie contemporaine, and bequeathed many of his works to posterity.
References
External links
''Vidéo'': Jean Lurçat (FR)''Vidéo'': Jean Lurçat(FR)
The UNESCO Works of Art collectionMobilier national : Jean Lurçat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lurcat, Jean
1892 births
1966 deaths
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
French male painters
French modern painters
French landscape artists
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
Académie Colarossi alumni
Articles containing video clips
People from Vosges (department)
Painters from Paris
French tapestry artists
French Resistance members