Rooster Print Signed by Jean Lurçat

This striking print bearing the signature of Jean Lurçat (1892–1966) presents one of the most recognisable subjects in his vast decorative output: the rooster, rendered in the flat, jewel-toned, heraldic manner that became his artistic signature. Against a deep dark ground, the bird rears upward in a posture of vivid energy — its plumage a cascade of blues, greens, and yellows with touches of red and orange at the wattle and comb — the forms simplified and bold in a way that owes as much to medieval manuscript illumination and stained glass as to the modernist idiom of the twentieth century. Framed in a simple wood surround, the composition has the concentrated presence of a devotional image.

Jean Lurçat is one of the most significant figures in the history of twentieth-century French decorative arts. Trained as a painter and deeply influenced by the Cubists, he turned his attention in the 1930s to the revitalisation of French tapestry weaving, which had declined into a decorative and commercial irrelevance. Working at Aubusson — the historic centre of French tapestry production — he fundamentally reformed both the technique and the iconography of the medium, replacing the faded academic pastoral with bold, symbolic, cosmological imagery: suns, moons, beasts, and birds against dark grounds. His roosters, in particular, became emblems of his art, appearing in tapestries, ceramics, prints, and posters throughout his career and in the decade following his death in 1966.

The print format allowed Lurçat’s imagery to reach a wider audience than his large tapestries, which were acquired by museums and major collectors. Editions of prints after his designs were produced both during his lifetime and posthumously, often in limited runs supervised by his studio or estate. The circa 1970 dating of this example places it among the posthumous editions that maintained interest in his work in the years immediately following his death. The signature, present on the sheet, is characteristic of these authorised editions.

At 52 × 76 cm framed, this print has the presence to hold a wall in a living room, study, or hallway, where its colour intensity and iconographic authority will reward sustained attention. It is an accessible way to acquire a work associated with one of the great names of French twentieth-century art, and a piece whose decorative power remains entirely undiminished by the passage of time.