Jean Lurçat

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ceramic frieze by Jean Lurçat in Strasbourg

Jean Lurçat (born July 1, 1892 in Bruyères ( Vosges ), † January 6, 1966 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence ) was a French painter , ceramist and image maker . He was the brother of the architect André Lurçat .

Life

Jean Lurçat first studied in Nancy , then at the École des beaux-arts and at the Académie Colarossi in Paris . In 1914 he was arrested for pacifist activities. Between the world wars, Lurçat developed into a well-known painter in France. During the Second World War he was actively involved in the French Resistance , the resistance movement against the German occupation forces. After the end of the war he developed a lively activity, according to his own statement, "... to spread the tapestry virus all over the world."

In 1956 Jean Lurçat married Simone Selves (1915–2009), with whom he had already worked during the Resistance. After many stays abroad, he lived and worked mainly in Aubusson (Creuse) and in Saint-Laurent-les-Tours ( Lot ). In 1966 he died at the age of 73 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence ( Alpes-Maritimes ) as a result of a long-standing heart disease .

plant

As a painter, he turned to Cubism after his early work, which was influenced by Impressionism . Above all, however, he is considered to be the most important contemporary representative of image knitting, which he revitalized through his enthusiasm, inspiration and creative joy in close collaboration with the Aubusson manufactory. His first tapestry was also made in Aubusson in 1933. In the 50s and 60s, remarkable exhibitions with tapestries, paintings, drawings and ceramics by the artist took place on every continent.

In 1957 Lurçat began with the first motif of his monumental carpet series Chant du monde (The Song of the World), a modern apocalypse of the 20th century, which can be seen today in the Musée Jean Lurçat in Angers, western France . In 1962 he founded the International Center for Old and New Tapestries , which organized the International Tapestry Biennale in Lausanne for the first time in the same year and is considered the world's most important center for new textile art.

Tapestry by Jean Lurçat in Cologne's Gürzenich (Isabellensaal)

In his tapestries, Lurçat " shows the connection between modern formal language and a return to the medieval spatial qualities of this art genre. By understanding the tapestry as a wall curtain again, he renounced pictorial compositions based on perspective. By recognizing in the tapestry an image medium 'sui generis', he overcame the transfer of cardboard painting into woven pictures. " His wall hangings adorn numerous well-known buildings, for example the UN building in New York or the Gürzenich in Cologne . In Germany, you can also see The Tree and the Man (1960) and The Sun and the Sea (1961) in the Mercatorhalle Duisburg .

honors and awards

  • 1964: Member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts .
  • 1966: The French postal service honored Lurçat in the year he died on November 19 by issuing a special stamp (Michel 1564) with the reproduction of his tapestry The Moon and the Bull .
  • 1966: Édition du Club français de la Medaille Paris - cast bronze, one-sided, 175 mm, edition: 75 copies numbered from 1 to 75. Medalist: André Thillou (* 1908). Literature: CGI-4.3, page 1790, Fig.A

Exhibitions

  • In 1959, Jean Lurçat was a participant in documenta II in Kassel .
  • Jean Lurçat Museum Eppelborn : The most important Lurçat collection in German-speaking countries. This museum was founded in 2002 and includes over 400 works (oil paintings, gouaches, lithographs, tapestries, ceramics) compiled by the Paul Ludwig Foundation Jean Lurçat, a cross-section of the artist's work.
  • 2016: Jean Lurçat - painting, graphics, tapestry , art association “Talstrasse” , Halle (Saale). Catalog.

literature

  • Le travail dans la tapisserie du moyen age. Cailler, Paris 1947.
  • Tapisseries de Jean Lurçat 1939–1957. Avant-propos de Vercors. Ed. Vorms, Belves (Dordogne) 1957.
    German: Tapestries by Jean Lurçat. With a foreword by Vercors. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1963.
  • Mes domaines. Avec 35 ill. de l'auteur. Pierre Seghers, Paris 1958.
  • Le Chant du Monde Angers. Texts by Jean Lurçat. Siraudeau, Angers 1980.
  • Peintre cartonnier 1892-1966. Dialogue d'ecrits Claude Roy - Jean Lurçat. Ed. GI, Toulouse 1992, ISBN 2-9506404-0-0 .
  • Gerard Denizeau, Simone Lurçat: Catalog raisonne 1910–1965. Le Oeuvre peint de Jean Lurçat. Preface by Bernard Dorival . Acatos, Lausanne 1998, ISBN 2940033226 (texts in English and French).
  • Jean Lurçat 1892-1966. Edited by Ludwig Gallery Castle Oberhausen. Gallery, Oberhausen 2000.
  • Various catalogs. Edited by Jean Lurçat Museum Eppelborn
  • E.Br .: Jean Lurçat In: Architektur und Kunst , Vol. 18, 1931, pp. 1–7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Brockhaus
  2. ↑ max-ernst-gesellschaft.de: Review March 2011: In the German Jean Lurçat Museum (accessed on July 25, 2014)
personal data
SURNAME Lurçat, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French painter, ceramist and picture maker
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Bruyeres , France
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1966
Place of death Saint-Paul-de-Vence , France