Marc Saint-Saëns

Aubusson tapestry woven by the Tabard workshop.
With label.
1959.

Lurçat approached Saint-Saëns, originally a painter of murals, in 1940. And during the war the latter produced the first of his allegorical masterpieces, tapestries reflecting indignation, combat, resistance : “les Vierges folles (the foolish virgins), “Thésée et le Minotaure” (Theseus and the Minotaur). At the end of the war, as a natural development he joined up with Lurçat, whose convictions he shared (concerning a simplified palette, outlined cartoons with colours indicated by pre-ordained numbers, and the specific nature of tapestry design…) at the A.P.C.T. (Association des Peintres-cartonniers de Tapisserie). His universe, where the human figure, stretched, elongated, occupies an important place (particularly when compared to his companions Lurçat or Picart le Doux), pivots around traditional themes : woman, the Commedia dell’arte, Greek mythology… refined by the brilliance of the colours and the simplification of the layout. His work would evolve later, in the 1960’s, towards cartoons of a more lyrical design, almost abstract where elemental and cosmic forces would dominate.

The themes of music, theater, and more specifically Comedia dell’Arte (“Italian Comedy,” a 1947 cartoon) are omnipresent in Saint-Saëns’ work: he respects the figures, Lelio and Isabelle on the left, Pierrot, the Capitan, and Arlequin on the right, with their distinctive, humorous designs in traditional costumes. The first copy woven from our cardboard was in the collections of the Shah of Iran.

Bibliography : Lawrence Jeppson, Murals of wool, Washington D.C., Jeppson galleries, 1960, ill. n°12
Exhibition catalogue Saint-Saëns, galerie La Demeure, 1970
Exhibition catalogue Saint-Saëns, the tapestries, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la Tapisserie, 1987
Exhibition catalogue Marc Saint-Saëns, tapestries, 1935-1979, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine 1997-1998