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