Marc Saint-Saëns

Lurçat asked Saint-Saëns, first a fresco painter, from 1940 onward. And, during the war, the latter produced his first allegorical masterpieces—tapestries of indignation, of combat, of resistance: “mad Virgins,” “Theseus and the Minotaur.” At the end of the war, he naturally joined Lurçat, sharing his convictions (about the Numbered Cartoon and the counted tones, on the specific writing required by tapestry,…) within the A.P.C.T. (Association of the Painter-cartoonists of Tapestry). His universe, in which the human figure—stretched, elongated—plays a considerable role (compared in particular with the place it holds among his fellow artists Lurçat, or Picart le Doux), revolves around traditional themes: woman, the Commedia dell’arte, Greek myths,…, sublimated by the brilliance of the color palette and the simplification of the layout. He would then evolve, in the 1960s, toward more lyrical, almost abstract Cartoons, in which cosmic elements and forces predominate.

« The first specimen of  The Drinkers  was a commission from a friend of Saint-Saëns…. The Cartoon of the  The Drinkers , woven in 8 examples, returned like an apple of discord in correspondence Tabard/ Saint-Saëns, because of its weaving cost.  The Drinkers  attest to a solid joie de vivre and connect to the fruitful theme of the vine and the Seasons… » ( Cat. Expo. Marc Saint-Saëns, tapestries, 1935-1979, Angers, p.26). The thematic contrast is striking in relation to the artist’s earlier Cartoons: Orion, Theseus, the mad Virgins,…He would rediscover this lightness in  the poacher  or  the bouquet .
One example of the tapestry was shown at the 1946 exhibition of the Musée National d’Art moderne “French tapestry from the Middle Ages to the present day” (no.297).

Bibliography :
Jean Lurçat, Tapisserie Française, Bordas, 1947, reproduite pl.42
Cat. Expo. Saint-Saëns, galerie La Demeure, 1970
Cat. Expo. Saint-Saëns, oeuvre tissé, Aubusson, Musée départemental de la Tapisserie, 1987
Cat. Expo. Marc Saint-Saëns, tapisseries, 1935-1979, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat and de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 1997-1998, reproduit p.26
Cat. Expo. Tissages d’ateliers, tissages d’artistes, dix ans d’enrichissement des collections, Angers, Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine, 2004, reproduit p.85