Jean Lurçat, Nature Morte

Mueblería Caviglia, Montevideo, Uruguay

Private Collection, Montevideo, Uruguay, 1960

Thence by descent to the present owner

Claude Roy, Jean Lurçat, Geneva, 1956, pl. 78 (for a closely related example)

Sotheby's would like to thank Xavier Hermel and the Fondation Jean et Simone Lurçat for their assistance with the cataloguing of this lot, which will be included in the foundation's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's tapestries.

Jean Lurçat was a true Renaissance man with a wide-ranging artistic practice, and is best remembered for his radical and modern reinterpretation of the art of tapestry, of which the present lot, Nature Morte, is a prime example. Working in close dialogue with contemporary movements like Cubism and Surrealism, Lurçat created large-scale tapestries imbued with the colors and deconstructed compositions often associated with the work of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The present still life tapestry is charged with energy and movement with its shifting visual planes. Leafy garlands divide the composition, which is denoted by the presence of animals (fish swimming in the pond below, a lobster on the table, a night owl in the upper left corner) and accented by starbursts. The propped up mandolin—a subject depicted by both Picasso and Braque in their own paintings—contributes to the liveliness of the scene, but Lurcat diverged from his contemporaries in the present lot with his use of vivid color. The overall effect is an extremely dynamic and unique blending of genres, with conventional motifs of still life painting adapted with a Cubist vocabulary and enlivened by the artist’s daring color palette.

Beyond its beauty, Nature Morte is distinguished by its incredible history. It was acquired by a prominent Uruguayan art collector from an exhibition of works by Jean Lurçat held at Mueblería Caviglia in Montevideo in 1960. It remained in the collection until the owner's passing in 1988 and subsequently descended within the family. The tapestry was stored privately from 1989 until 2001 when it was discovered to be missing from the family's holdings. The conclusion of a preliminary local investigation was that it had been stolen. With the help of a local gallery, the family reached Jean Lurçat’s widow and sought her advice. Amazingly, she was aware of the tapestry and it’s current whereabouts: she had seen it displayed in a government building in Eppelborn, Germany, the city home to the Lurçat Museum. But the city of Eppelborn had purchased the tapestry in good faith, and so the investigation would have to continue. Local and international authorities became involved in the case, which was drawn out over more than a decade and concluded with a trial that lasted four years. In 2019, the tapestry was finally awarded by a court back to its original owners in Montevideo thanks to their tireless efforts to protect and uphold their family’s collecting legacy. Sotheby’s is honored to present this fascinating and highly desirable work on their behalf.