Jean Lurçat – Original Gouache Of A Rooster – Circa 1955 – Pierre Delclaux Collection

Original gouache by Jean Lurçat

Stunning original gouache by Jean Lurçat (1892–1966), created around 1955, depicting a fantastical rooster in an expressive composition with bold, contrasting colors.

Against a deep black background, an irregular yellow silhouette frames the central figure, drawn in black line with great artistic freedom. The ochre-colored body, dotted with small black motifs, is crisscrossed by red, blue, and turquoise bands. The stylized head, crest, and appendages form an imaginary animal figure, while its slender legs seem to be anchored in a network of sinuous lines.

The work as a whole is striking for the power of its graphic design, the intensity of its color palette, and the balance of its composition. The contrast between the surrounding black and the luminous yellow remarkably highlights the subject. The drawing, deliberately abstract, oscillates between animal representation, a fantastical bestiary, and decorative motifs.

This original work is particularly interesting for its iconography, visual power, and provenance: it comes from the collection of Pierre Delclaux, a student of Jean Lurçat. Since lithographs were produced based on this composition, this gouache is also of particular interest for studying the artist’s creative process and the dissemination of his work.

Jean Lurçat and His Artistic World

Born on July 1, 1892, in Bruyères, in the Vosges, and died on January 6, 1966, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Jean Lurçat is one of the major figures of 20th-century French art. A painter, draftsman, ceramicist, and tapestry designer, he made a profound contribution to the revival of this art form by developing an immediately recognizable visual language.

While his fame rests largely on his tapestry designs, his graphic and pictorial work deserves equal attention. Lurçat created a world populated by animals, plants, suns, fantastical creatures, and symbolic figures. He favors bold outlines, simplified forms, and flat areas of color, in a constant pursuit of visual impact.

The rooster and other animal figures occupy a prominent place in this imaginative world. Stripped of naturalistic details, they become powerful, almost emblematic symbols, whose stylization allows for immediate interpretation.

This gouache, dating from around 1955, fully illustrates this creative freedom. The apparent spontaneity of the line is combined with a rigorous organization of colors and volumes. The composition seems designed to exist both as a standalone painting and as a motif that could be transposed into another medium.

A Remarkable Provenance

The work comes from the collection of Pierre Delclaux (1933–1993), a student of Jean Lurçat between 1954 and 1961. This provenance establishes a direct link to the master’s educational and artistic circle.

Beyond its aesthetic qualities, this sheet thus holds documentary value for admirers of Jean Lurçat and collectors of modern art. It attests to the importance of drawing and gouache in the development of an artistic universe whose motifs could be adapted to various media.

26 × 33 cm.

Circa 1955.

Pierre Delclaux Collection (1933–1993), a student of Jean Lurçat.