Marc Saint-Saëns

Lurçat approached Saint-Saëns, initially a fresco painter, as early as 1940. During the war, Saint-Saëns produced his first allegorical masterpieces, tapestries of indignation, struggle, and resistance: “The Foolish Virgins,” “Theseus and the Minotaur.” After the war, he naturally joined Lurçat, whose convictions he shared (regarding numbered cartoons and limited tones, the specific style required for tapestry, etc.), within the APCT (Association of Tapestry Cartoon Painters). His world, where the elongated, stretched human figure holds considerable prominence (especially compared to the role it plays in the work of his contemporaries Lurçat or Picart le Doux), revolves around traditional themes: woman, the Commedia dell'arte, Greek myths, etc., all sublimated by the brilliance of the colors and the simplification of the layout. In the 1960s, he would later move towards more lyrical, almost abstract designs, dominated by cosmic elements and forces.

While music is a constant in Saint-Saëns' work, his stylistic evolution in the 1960s towards a more informal, biomorphic art affects the treatment of the subject; but is such lyricism not ideally suited to the expression of "Bel Canto"?

Bibliography:
Exhibition catalog, French Tapestry from the Middle Ages to the Present Day, Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne, 1946
; Exhibition catalog, Saint-Saëns, Paris, Galerie La Demeure, 1970, ill.;
Exhibition catalog, Saint-Saëns, Woven Works, Aubusson, Musée Départemental de la Tapisserie, 1987
; Exhibition catalog, Marc Saint-Saëns, Tapestries, 1935-1979, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1997-1998