Marc Saint-Saëns

Lurçat solicited Saint-Saëns, initially a fresco painter, from 1940 onwards. And, during the war, he produced his first allegorical masterpieces, tapestries of indignation, combat, and resistance: 'the Foolish Virgins', 'Theseus and the Minotaur'. After the war, naturally, he joined Lurçat, with whom he shared convictions (about the numbered cartoon and counted tones, about the specific writing required for tapestry, ...) within the A.P.C.T. (Association of Tapestry Cartoonists). His universe, where the human figure, stretched and elongated, holds a considerable place (compared, in particular, to the place it occupies among his colleagues Lurçat and Picart le Doux), revolves around traditional themes: women, Commedia dell'arte, Greek myths, ... sublimated by the brilliance of the colors and the simplification of the layout. He then evolved, in the 1960s, towards more lyrical, almost abstract cartoons, where cosmic elements and forces dominate.

"The first copy of the Drinkers was commissioned by a friend of Saint-Saëns'. The cartoon of the Drinkers, woven in 8 copies, was a bone of contention in the Tabard/Saint-Saëns correspondence, because of its weaving cost. The Drinkers show a robust joy of living and are linked to the fertile theme of the vine and the Seasons..." (Cat. Expo. Marc Saint-Saëns, tapestries, 1935-1979, Angers, p.26). The thematic contrast is striking with the artist's previous cartoons: Orion, Theseus, the foolish virgins,... He will find this lightness again in the poacher or the bouquet. A copy of the tapestry was included in the 1946 exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art "French tapestry from the Middle Ages to the present day" (n°297).

Bibliography:
Jean Lurçat, French Tapestry, Bordas, 1947, reproduced pl.42
Cat. Expo. Saint-Saëns, La Demeure gallery, 1970
Cat. Expo. Saint-Saëns, woven work, Aubusson, Departmental Tapestry Museum, 1987
Cat. Expo. Marc Saint-Saëns, tapestries, 1935-1979, Angers, Jean Lurçat Museum and Contemporary Tapestry, 1997-1998, reproduced p.26
Cat. Expo. Workshop weavings, artist weavings, ten years of collection enrichment, Angers, Jean Lurçat Museum and Contemporary Tapestry, 2004, reproduced p.85