Jean Lurcat, ‘Le Printemps’

Title/Series:’Le Printemps’

Designer: Jean Lurcat (1892-1966)

Manufacture: Atelier of Tabard Freres (1902-1969) Aubusson, France

Date: 1958

Materials: Wool

Dimensions:H 10ft. 3in., W 11ft. 5in.

This tapestry was commissioned by Gwendolyn D. Cafritz (1910-1988), one of washington’s leading hostesses for her Art Moderne mansion on Foxhall Road.  Lurcat designed ‘Printemps’ specifically for this site and it remains a unique piece.

Here he depicts the beauty and rebirth of springtime. Lurcat often used animal and nature imagery. He includes springtime insects and animals such as butterflies hovering over flowers and a turtle that seems to be symbolically giving birth to a large tree.