Jean Lurçat (French, –1966)

Timeline

1892
Born in Bruyères
1912
Moved to Paris; enrolled in the Académie Colorassi; worked in the studio of engraver Bernard Naudin
1913
Co-founded Les Feuilles de Mai review
1914
First collaboration with Jean Paul Lafitte in Marseilles; traveled to Italy
1916
First exhibition at the Tanner Gallery of Zurich
1920
Traveled to Berlin, Munich, Rome, Naples, Palermo; established himself on the rue Nollet in Paris with Marthe Hennebert
1921
Befriended Pierre Chareau, Max Jacob, and Louis Marcoussis; discovered the work of Pablo Picasso
1922
Held two exhibitions in Paris at the Povolotozky Gallery (gouaches) and at the Vildrac gallery (oils and watercolors); created a large wall decoration for Edmond Bernheim at the Villeflix castle with Pierre Chareau; executed his fifth tapestry, Le Cirque, for Marie Cuttoli’s salon
1923–1924
Traveled to Spain; spent time in North Africa, the Sahara, Greece, and Asia Minor; signed a non-exclusive contract with art dealer Etienne Bignou
1925
Moved to the house of his brother and architect, André Lurçat, in Paris; traveled to Scotland, Spain, and the Sahara; showed his work in Paris at the Georges Petit and Jeanne Bucher Galleries; worked on the Marcel L’Herbier film Le vertige
1926–1927
Received critical acclaim; executed a number of portraits; traveled to the East, Greece, and Turkey
1928
Traveled to Greece and Italy; held his first show in New York at Valentine Gallery; exhibited in Paris at the Vavin Gallery; participated in Moscow’s first exhibition of Contemporary Art
1929
Lived in Morocco
1930
Exhibited at the Alex Reid and Lefèvre Gallery in London; returned to the United States, with an exhibition at the Valentine Gallery and the Becker Gallery
1931
Moved to Vevey, Switzerland; held shows in Philadelphia, Berlin, and Paris; created eight large-scale drawings, published by Jeanne Bucher under the title P.P.C. (pour prendre congé; to take leave)
1932
Exhibited with Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, André Derain, and Raoul Dufy at the Selections’s, organized by the Valentine Gallery
1933
Received the Barnes Foundation award in the United States, befriended Thérèse Bonney
1934
Settled in New York; designed stage sets and costumes for the American Ballet Theater; exhibited paintings and gouaches in Kiev, and in Moscow at the Museum of Modern Western Art
1935
Start of the Spanish Civil War; painted The Dynamiteros
1936
Exhibited at London’s Reid and Lefevre Gallery, and the Jeanne Bucher Gallery in Paris; create a tapestry at the Manufacture des Gobelins, a gift to the queen of Holland
1937–1938
Created many tapestries at Tabard’s; Produced furniture with the Beauvais manufactory
1939
Showed at the Bignou Gallery in New York and the Petit Palais in Paris
1940
Collaborated with André Derain and Raoul Dufy
1941–1942
Moved to Souillac; participated in the underground movement; exhibited at the Bignou Gallery in New York
1944
Showed in Paris at the Carré Gallery, and in New York at the Bignou Gallery; founded the newspaper Liberté
1945
Acquired Tours Saint Laurent, the remains of an ancient fortress overlooking Saint- Céré
1946
In New York, E. Bignou organizes a new show of his paintings; showed at London’s Anglo-French Centre
1947
Participated in the major exhibition La tapisserie Française du Moyen-âge à nos jours, which traveled to Brussels, London, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, and Montreal
1948
Lectured and showed in England, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland.
1949–1950
Traveled to Milan, Venice, and Zurich; showed his work in Locarno, Beirut, and Zurich
1951–1952
Publication of Bestiaire fabuleux by Patrice de la Tour du Pin, which featured his gouaches; produced his first ceramic pieces at San-Vicens Pottery near Perpignan
1953
Showed at the Gimpel Gallery in London, and at the Musée Réattu in Arles
1954
Traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and throughout South and Central America; showed in Lausanne, Paris; traveled to Hanover, Essen, and Hagen
1955–1956
Traveled in China for two months
1957
Lectured and exhibited in Europe and the United States
1958
Held a major exhibition at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris; traveled to Japan, India, and Portugal
1959
Voted a member of Belgium’s Académie Royale, and Portugal’s National Academy of Arts
1960
Participated in solo shows of his tapestries in Cologne, Bremen, and Lisbon; worked on Chant du Monde, one of his most important tapestries
1961–1962
Traveled to England, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, and Dahomey; held a retrospective of his painted work at the Stiebel Gallery in Paris
1963–1964
Held shows in Genova, Tel Aviv, Annecy, Hanover, Zurich, and Morocco; held solo shows of his tapestries at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, including Le chant du Monde; voted a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts
1965
Traveled to Mexico and Greece
1966
Died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence
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Exhibitions

1963–1964
Shows in Genova, Tel-Aviv, Annecy, hannover, Zurich, Morocco. One-man show of his tapestries at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
1961–1962
Retrospective Exhibition, Stiebel Gallery, Paris, France (solo)
1960
One-man shows of his tapestries in Cologne and Bremen, Germany and in Lisbon, Portugal (solo)
1958
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France (solo)
1954
La Demeure, Paris, France (solo)
1953
Gimpel Gallery, London, UK
1953
Musée Réattu, Arles, France
1949
50, Shows in Locarno, Italy - Beirut, Lebanon and Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
1947
La tapisserie Française du Moyen-à nos jours, touring exhibition, Brussels, London, New York, Chicago, L.A., Boston & Montreal
1946
Bignou Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1946
Anglo-French Centre, London, UK (solo)
1944
Paintings by Jean Lurçat, Bignou Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1944
Carré Gallery, Paris, France (solo)
1941–1942
Dufy and Lurçat, Bignou Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1939
Bignou Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1939
Petit Palais, Paris, France (solo)
1936
Reid Gallery, London, UK (solo)
1936
Lefevre, Paris, France (solo)
1936
Jeanne Bucher Gallery, Paris, France (solo)
1934
Museum of Modern Western Art, Moscow, Russia and Kiev, Ukrain (solo)
1931
Vignon Gallery, Paris, France (solo)
1928
First Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
1925
Georges Petit Gallery, Paris, France (solo)
1925
Jeanne Bucher Gallery, Paris, France (solo)
1922
Povolotozky Gallery, Paris, France (solo)
1922
Vildrac Gallery, Paris, France (solo)
1916
Tanner Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
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Public Collections

Detroit Museum of Fine Arts, Detroit
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Grenoble
Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, Paris
Museum of Chicago
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery, Washington DC
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
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Literature

G. DENIZEAU and S. LURÇAT, l'Oeuvre peint de Jean Lurçat. Catalogue Raisonné 1910-1965, Lausanne, 1998
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