Paul Léon (2 October 1874 – 1 August 1962) was a French art professor and

historiographer Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term "historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific to ...

Biography

He spent his childhood in

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

, where his family originated. He attended college in

Épinal Épinal (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northeastern France and the prefecture of the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department. Geography The commune has a land area of . It is situated on the river Moselle, so ...

. After receiving his

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

, he continued his studies at the

Lycée Condorcet The Lycée Condorcet () is a secondary school in Paris, France, located at 8, rue du Havre, in the city's 9th arrondissement. Founded in 1803, it is one of the four oldest high schools in Paris and also one of the most prestigious. Since its inc ...

. He passed his examinations and became an agrégé in 1898. After a few years of teaching, he was employed by the Ministry of Public Works, then became a contributor and staff member at the ''

Annales de géographie Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

''. In 1905, he found a position as chief-of-staff to the Undersecretary of State for Fine Arts, . The following year, he married Madeleine Alexandre; daughter of , Engineer for Bridges and Roadways. They had a son and a daughter. In 1907, he became chief of the architectural division at the Undersecretariat, a division he helped to create. In 1919, he was named the Director of Fine Arts and, in 1928, the Director General.Archives Nationales
Paul Léon, diecteur général des beaux-arts
During that time, in 1922, he was elected to the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

, where he took Seat #6 in the "Unattached" section. He held that position until his death forty years later. He retired from his functions as Director General in 1933 to become a professor at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, teaching the history of monumental art. He also was the principal historiographer in the service of France's

Monuments Historiques () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

. As were thousands of others, he was seriously affected by the "

racial laws Anti-Jewish laws have been a common occurrence throughout the history of antisemitism and Jewish history. Examples of such laws include special Jewish quotas, Jewish taxes and Jewish "disabilities". During the 1930s and early 1940s, some law ...

" of 1940/41, and took refuge in the

zone libre The ''zone libre'' (, ''free zone'') was a partition of the French metropolitan territory during World War II, established at the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June 1940. It lay to the south of the demarcation line and was administered b ...

. After the fall of the

Vichy government Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

, he was officially retired from the Collège. During his retirement, he was a conservator at the

Musée Condé The – in English, the Condé Museum – is a French museum located inside the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise, 40 km north of Paris. In 1897, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of Louis Philippe I, bequeathed the château and ...

in Chantilly, and President of the Artistic Council of the

Réunion des Musées Nationaux The Réunion des Musées Nationaux (; abbr. RMN) is a French cultural umbrella organisation, an établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial (EPIC), formed in 2011, through the merger of the Paris National Museums and the Grand Pa ...

. He wrote numerous books on the history of Paris and historic monuments.

References

External links

* Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
"Paul Léon, Administrateur des arts et du patrimoine"
__NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Paul 1874 births 1962 deaths French art directors French art historians French historiographers Members of the Académie des beaux-arts People from Rueil-Malmaison

Biography

References

Further reading

External links