Gaston Diehl (10 August 1912 – 12 December 1999) was a French professor of
art history
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
and an
art critic
An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...
.
Biography
Diehl graduated from the
Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie
The Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie is a building at 3 rue Michelet in Paris, built for the educational institution of the same name (French for "Institute of Art and Archaeology"). It was initially designed in 1920 in a unique eclectic style by ...
in 1934 and the Ecole du Louvre in 1936. In October 1935, Diel and his classmates formed a student group called 'Regain', where they conducted a weekly review of the same name dedicated to discuss once or twice a month of contemporary creativity with different artists in the basement of the Capoulade Quartier. Beginning 1938, Diehl participated in the weekly magazine Marianne and kept for a year a chronicle of art called "The rostrum of Youth." In 1939, he founded the magazine Charpentes.
In October 1943, during the
Nazi Occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
, Diehl founded the May Salon in Paris in a café on the
Palais Royal
The Palais-Royal () is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal R ...
, in opposition to the ideology of Nazism and its condemnation of
degenerate art
Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...
. Its other founder-members were
Henri-Georges Adam
Henri-Georges Adam (14 January 1904 – 27 August 1967) was a French engraver and non-figurative sculptor of the École de Paris, who was also involved in the creation of numerous monumental tapestries. His work in these three areas is regarde ...
,
Emmanuel Auricoste
Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the ...
Jacques Despierre
Jacques Despierre (born 6 May 1928) is a French Catholic bishop, and bishop emeritus of Carcassonne since 2004. He was born in Toulouse.
Life
He was ordained a priest in Toulouse for the Prado Institute on 24 June 1952.Marcel Gili, Leon Gischia,
Francis Gruber
Francis Gruber (1912–1948) was a French painter, founder of the ''Nouveau Réalisme'' school, and a member of the ''Force nouvelles'' group.
He was born in Nancy, the son of stained glass artist Jacques Gruber.
He first exhibited at the a ...
,
René Iché
René Iché (21 January 1897 – 23 December 1954) was a 20th-century French sculptor.
Life and work
René Iché was born in Sallèles-d'Aude, France. He fought in World War I, where he was injured and gassed. After the war, he earned a degre ...
,
Jean Le Moal
Jean Le Moal (30 October 1909 – 16 March 2007) was a French painter of the new Paris school, designer of stained glass windows, and one of the founder members of the Salon de Mai.
Biography
Jean Le Moal enrolled at the "Ecole des Beaux-Ar ...
,
Alfred Manessier
Alfred Manessier (5 December 1911, Saint-Ouen – 1 August 1993, Orléans) was a non-figurative French painter, stained glass artist, and tapestry designer, part of the new School of Paris and the Salon de Mai.
Biography
Manessier was born amo ...
Gustave Singier
Gustave Singier (11 February 1909, in Warneton – 5 May 1984, in Paris) was a Belgian abstract art, non-figurative painter active in France as part of the new Paris School of Lyrical Abstraction and the Salon de Mai.
Early life
He spent his c ...
, Claude Venard and Roger Vieillard. Several of them (Coutaud, Gischia, Iché, Le Moal, Manessier, Marchand, Pignon, Singier) had in 1941 participated in the exhibition of Twenty young painters of French tradition. The first May Salon took place at the Galerie Pierre Maurs from 29 May to 29 June 1945.
Diehl created in October 1944 the Movement of Friends of Art for the dissemination of the modern art through lectures, screenings, films, educational exhibitions particularly in the provinces. He was close to Rouault, and the young painters of French tradition which he prefaced exhibitions from 1943 at the Galerie de France. Diehl also helped with the exhibitions of Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso, Villon, Braque, Bernard Buffet and Hans Hartung, and thus, accordingly including the testimony of Pierre Restany that he "was very conscious writer who had a foot in the first half of his century and another in the second." In 1948, Diehl played a role in the creation of the International Film Festival of Art and contributed to the films: Van Gogh (1948), which won an
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under various names, since 1957.
From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, "Best Short Subject, One- ...
in 1950 and Gauguin (1950) with
Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included ...
and Christmas galantes (Watteau) (1950) with
Jean Aurel
Jean Aurel (6 November 1925 in Rastolita, Romania – 24 August 1996 in Paris) was a Romanian-born French film director and scriptwriter. Notably, he co-wrote ''La Femme d'à côté'' ('' The Woman Next Door'') with François Truffaut and Suzann ...
.
In September 1950, Diehl was appointed professor by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Venezuela at the
Central University of Venezuela
The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in L ...
and the School of Fine Arts where he taught art history. As a cultural attache at the embassy, he also directed the Franco-Venezuelan Institute, and wrote articles in the press in Europe and Latin America. He helped artists like
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Carlos Cruz-Diez (17 August 1923 – 27 July 2019) was a Venezuelan artist said by some scholars to have been "one of the greatest artistic innovators of the 20th century."
Exhibitions
* ''Physichromies de Cruz-Diez: Oeuvres de 1954 à 1965' ...
and Jesús-Rafael Soto to gain recognition in Europe.
From 1950 to 1966, Diehl played a similar role in Morocco following in the footsteps of Delacroix and Matisse. In February 1966, he directed the Bureau des Expositions de l'Action Artistique, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and took until his retirement in 1977 the task of start with the help of curators, critics and friends of exhibitions in France at the Grand and Petit Palais and the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
(including The Treasury Toutankamon in 1960).
Diehl continued until his death to support art in all its forms and in the world and was elected President of the Museum of Latin America in 1983, and helped introduce Latin American artists at the House of Latin America in Monte Carlo from 1986 to 1998.
Works
* Jumana El Husseini . http://jumanaelhusseini.com/Home.html
*''Peintres d'aujourd'hui. Les maîtres'', Charpentier, Paris, 1943, 36 p.
*''Les problèmes de la peinture'', sous la direction de Gaston Diehl, éditions Confluences, 1945.
*''Édouard Goerg'', éditions de Clermont, Paris, 1947, 94 p.
*''Asselin'', éditions Rombaldi, Paris, 1947.
*''
Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
'', éditions Hyperion, Paris-New York, 1949, 48 p.
*''
Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
'', Nathan, Paris, 1950, 48 p.
*''Le Dessin en France au XIXè siècle'', éditions Hyperion, Paris-New York, 1950, 100 p.
*''Matisse'', Paris, Pierre Tisné, 1954, 310 p.
*''Pintura venezolana'', Creole Petroleum, Caracas, 1958.
*''El Arte moderno frances en Caracas'', cuatro Vientos, Caracas, 1959, 32 p.
*''
Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1960, 96 p.
*''La Peinture moderne dans le monde'', Flammarion, Paris, 1961, 220 p.
*'' Derain'', Flammarion, Paris, 1964, 96 p.
*'' Singier et l'art français contemprain'', éditions marocaines et internationales, Tanger, 1965
*''
Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1966, 48p.
*''
Greco
Greco may refer to:
People
* Greco (surname), a list of people with this surname
* a masculine variant of Greca (given name), an Italian feminine given name
* Greco Mafia clan, one of the most influential Mafia clans in Sicily and Calabria
Wine ...
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1966, 48 p.
*''
Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetism, Synthetist style that were d ...
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1966, 48 p.
*''
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1966, 48 p.
*''
Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross").
It may refer to:
People
* Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium
* Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1966, 48 p.
*''
Pascin
Julius Mordecai Pincas (March 31, 1885 – June 5, 1930), known as Pascin (; erroneously or ), Jules Pascin, or the "Prince of Montparnasse", was a Bulgarian artist known for his paintings and drawings. He later became an American citizen. ...
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1968, 96 p.
*''
Van Dongen Van Dongen is a Dutch toponymic surname meaning "from/of Dongen", a town in North Brabant.
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1968, 96 p.
*'' Hector Poleo'', Inciba, Caracas, 1969, 74 p.
*''Matisse'', Paris, Nouvelles éditions françaises, 1970, 159 p.
*''Les Fauves'', Paris, Nouvelles éditions françaises, 1971, 192 p.
*''
Vasarely
Victor Vasarely (; born Győző Vásárhelyi, ; 9 April 1906 – 15 March 1997) was a Hungarian-French artist, who is widely accepted as a "grandfather" and leader of the Op art movement.
His work entitled ''Zebra'', created in 1937, is consid ...
'', Paris, Flammarion, 1972, 96 p.
*''
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...
'', Paris, Flammarion, 1973, 96 p.
*'' Miró'', Paris, Flammarion, 1974, 96 p.
*''Perez Celis'', Ed. de arte Gaglianone, Buenos Aires, 1981, 200 p.
*''
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
'', Flammarion, Paris, 1985, 96 p.
*''
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...
'', Paris, Flammarion, 1989.
*'' Kremègne : l'expressionnisme sublimé'', Navarin, Paris, 1990, 237 p.
*''Oswaldo Vigas'', Armitano, Caracas, 1990, 296 p. (en français, 1993).
*''Georges Papazoff'', Paris, Cercle d'art, 1995.
*''La Peinture en France dans les années noires, 1935-1945'', Z'éditions, Nice, 1999.