Jean Picart Le Doux, born in Paris on January 31, 1902, received no specialized professional training. After taking a few courses in private academies, he started his career in bookbinding and publishing.In 1933, he abandoned publishing to focus on graphic arts and advertising. He showcased his first works in 1935 at the Billiet-Vorms Gallery and continued to do so until 1940, extending his activities in the field, participating in various events, and won the first prize in Theatre Poster at the Salon de l'Imagerie. Meeting Jean Lurcat in 1940 had a significant influence on him: he developed a passionate interest in the revival of tapestry, without, however, renouncing graphic arts. He created his first cartoons (tapestry designs) for Leleu in 1944, decorating the liner "La Marseillaise", and in 1946, he took part in a significant exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
Apart from private exhibitions in Paris (France Gallery, 1950), Lausanne, and Zurich, Jean Picart Le Doux participated in all group presentations domestically and internationally, as well as in the Salons of Independent Artists, Autumn and Decorative Artists.
As Vice President of the Association of Painters and Tapestry Designers, a member of the Committee of the Society of Decorative Artists, the Autumn Salon, the Union of Plastic Arts, and the Board of Directors of the Maison de la Pensée Française, Jean Picart Le Doux received significant tapestry commissions for the Paris Chamber of Commerce, the General Transatlantic Company, the Maritime Messageries, the Salomon de Rothschild Foundation, and the French Lyceum in Lisbon.
Some of his tapestries have already been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, the National Furniture, the Manufacture des Gobelins, and one of them, "Ceres", by the Polish State.
Although he, like all tapestry designers and artists who, following Jean Lurçat, are contributing to the current tapestry renaissance, has strictly complied with the constraints of traditional technique from the high eras – large point, a limited number of pure and solid tones, essentially monumental optics – the personality of Jean Picart Le Doux, his tastes, his imagination, his sensitivity, align his works more with the "noble pastorals", the poetic and soothing scenes of "Lordly Life" conceived and produced in the workshops of the Loire banks than with the admirable but fabulous bestiary of the Middle Ages.
It seems that the artist, marked by his graphic research, gained an exceptional sense of composition, of "layout", sometimes even reaching a certain linear simplicity softened by the warmth of the woolen fiber and the harmonious chords of rare tonalities. Stylized little flowers and grass animate backgrounds curiously punctuated by white spots where, sort of a personal signature, the grace of a familiar bird almost always discreetly hides. This so characterized style admits, while preserving its essential elements, a great variety of themes. Unique characters: "Winter", "The Sea God", "Harlequin" centered in the middle of a bustling decor of bare trees, algae, or foliage; some compositions give in to a more intellectual inspiration like "Cosmogony", with its large beaches of silence punctuated by letters; there are sumptuous and dense still lifes: "Earthly Nourishments", "Music" or "The French Garden", of noble classicism, the fairy-tale and architectural fantasy of "Paris", the unforgettable poetry of "Snows" or the joyful fluttering of wings of this tapestry with primitive graces and a melodious harmony, "The Birds are Flying Away".
Edité par Les Tapis de Cogolin
Photo : Debretagne
