The Salon de Mai (the ''
May Salon'') is a group of French artists which formed in a café on the Rue Dauphine in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in 1943 during the
German occupation of France
The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
.
[Ferrier, Jean-Louis. (Ed.) (1999) ''Art of the 20th Century''. Paris: Chene-Hachette, p. 431. ]
In 1943, the Salon de Mai was founded as an Association (declared in 1944) in opposition to
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
ideology 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, ...
. It founder members were the art critic
Gaston Diehl and the painters, sculptors and engravers
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 ...
,
Lucien Coutaud,
Robert Couturier,
Jacques Despierre (who suggested naming the salon after the month in which its first meetings were held),
Marcel Gili,
Léon 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 ...
,
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 am ...
,
André Marchand,
Edouard Pignon,
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, who together formed it direction committee. Several of them (Coutaud, Gischia, Le Moal, Manessier, Marchand,
ORAZI, Pignon, Singier) participated in the 1941 exhibition .
Under its president
Gaston Diehl the first Salon de Mai exhibition took place in the art galerie "Pierre Maurs" (3, avenue Matignon) from 29 May to 29 June 1945. Its honorary committee was made up of
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